Sat, 06/29/2013 - 13:33

Churchill Downs notes: Groupie Doll has first workout of year

Tom Keyser
Groupie Doll worked three furlongs in 35.80 seconds at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eclipse Award winner Groupie Doll had her first workout of the year when breezing three furlongs early Saturday in 35.80 seconds over a fast Churchill Downs track.

Trainer Buff Bradley said he was very pleased with the move, which came with jockey John McKee in the saddle. Groupie Doll, the top female sprinter of 2012, eased back into training in early May after getting almost three months off at Bradley’s farm.

Sat, 06/29/2013 - 13:14

Woodbine: Frostad, Casse send out Queen's Plate workers

Michael Burns
Pyrite Mountain, winner of the Wando Stakes, will make his next start in the Queen’s Plate on July 7.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pyrite Mountain and County Lineman, both trained by Mark Frostad, breezed six furlongs in 1:12.20 on the main track here Saturday in preparation for next Sunday’s $1 million Queen’s Plate.

Trainer Mark Casse sent out two of his Queen’s Plate hopefuls to work five furlongs on the main track, with Dynamic Sky clocked in 1:01 and Spring in the Air going in 1:00.80.

Pyrite Mountain and County Lineman worked in company, with Luis Contreras aboard Pyrite Mountain and apprentice Nick Webb on County Lineman.

Sat, 06/29/2013 - 12:20

Prairie Meadows: Moquett wins two stakes on festival's opening night

Coady Photography
Gentlemen's Bet (right) under jockey David Mello turns back Delaunay in the Iowa Sprint.

ALTOONA, Iowa – Trainer Ron Moquett enjoyed a big Friday night as two of his horses, Gentlemen’s Bet and Livi Makenzie, won stakes races on opening night of Prairie Meadows’ two-card Iowa Festival of Racing.

Gentlemen’s Bet fended off a persistent challenge from North America’s top rated sprinted Delaunay to take the $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap by 1 3/4 lengths. Now 5 for 6 lifetime, the 4-year-old Half Ours colt, according to Moquett, “looked great this morning” and will return to Louisville.

Sat, 06/29/2013 - 11:47

Hollywood Park: Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Calidoscopio retired

Tom Keyser
Calidoscopio ended his career with a dramatic victory in the Brooklyn Handicap.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Calidoscopio, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Marathon at Santa Anita last November, emerged from his win in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park on June 7 with heat in a leg and has been retired, trainer Mike Puype said.

The 10-year-old Calidoscopio is expected to return to Argentina in coming months, Puype said. Calidoscopio began his career in Argentina before being sent to the United States last fall in advance of the BC Marathon.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 23:23

Prairie Meadows: Gentlemen's Bet outruns Delaunay in Iowa Sprint

Coady Photography
Gentlemen's Bet, with substitute rider David Mello aboard, wins the Iowa Sprint.

Travel problems prevented jockey Robby Albarado from making it to Prairie Meadows in time to ride lightly raced 4-year-old Gentlemen’s Bet in Friday night's $125,000 Iowa Sprint. Albarado’s absence gave David Mello the opportunity to pick up the mount. Mello made the most of his chance by guiding Gentlemen’s Bet to victory over 1-5 favorite Delaunay.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 22:50

Prairie Meadows: Flashy American dominates as favorite in Iowa Distaff

Coady Photography
Terry Thompson moves to within seven victories of 3,000 for his career by winning the Iowa Distaff aboard favored Flashy American.

Eleven months ago, Flashy American won her maiden while running for a $25,000 claiming tag. Friday night at Prairie Meadows, the much improved 4-year-old filly Flashy American was a dominant winner in a $100,000 Iowa Distaff.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 22:33

Prairie Meadows: Livi Makenzie changes tactics to take Saylorville

Coady Photography
Livi Makenzie, stalking the pace rather than going to the front, draws clear by a length under Israel Ocampo in the Saylorville.

Israel Ocampo had never ridden the filly Livi Makenzie before he was named as a late replacement for the absent Robby Albarado on Friday night at Prairie Meadows. But Ocampo was wise enough to change tactics, asking Livi Makenzie to stalk the pace rather than go to the front as she usually does in the $100,000 Saylorville Stakes for fillies and mares.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 19:03

Woodbine: Lynch ban lifted

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Brian Lynch can return to his barn at Woodbine on Saturday after the Ontario Racing Commission lifted a suspension that it had imposed while conducting its own investigation into an incident in a Woodbine parking lot on May 24.

Lynch allegedly had been involved in a confrontation with jockey Sunny Singh, and was arrested here the following day by Toronto police and charged with uttering death threats and unsafe operation of a motor vehicle.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 18:33

Oaklawn Park gets local approval to expand gaming area

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has received city approval for a 58,085 square-foot addition to its grandstand in a project scheduled to begin in May 2014.

The addition would expand the track’s gaming center, allowing for 500 player positions to be added to the existing 1,000 positions, according to documents from the city of Hot Springs. The expansion was confirmed by Jennifer Hoyt, a spokesperson for Oaklawn.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 18:11

Monmouth Park: Itsmyluckyday doing well

Tom Keyser
Itsmyluckyday is confined to four months of stall rest.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Itsmyluckyday continues a comfortable recovery from a small fracture of a hip bone suffered while challenging Verrazano in the Pegasus Stakes here on June 16.

The colt, second to Oxbow in the Preakness, is confined to four months of stall rest at trainer Eddie Plesa's barn at Monmouth.

"He's doing great," Plesa said. "He's doing fantastic."

And he's not doing much of anything, letting the injury heal on its own.