LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four allowance races on a Friday card might be the norm at, say, Keeneland or Saratoga, but it’s something of a rarity at Churchill Downs.
The happy exception to that rule comes this Friday at Churchill, where a $57,000, third-level sprint anchors a solid 11-race twilight program that starts at 2:45 p.m. Eastern. The 6 1/2-furlong race is carded as the 10th.
Working backward from the feature, here’s a quick rundown of that quartet:
The $400,000 Oklahoma Derby has been reinstated as a Grade 3 race for its Sept. 29 running in the most significant change to the Remington Park stakes schedule that was released on Wednesday. In all, there will be 32 stakes worth nearly $3.4 million during the 67-date meet that opens Aug. 16. The season runs through Dec. 15.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Ontario Racing Commission has quarantined two of Woodbine’s barns and implemented shipping restrictions after five horses stabled in Barn 1 tested positive for the equine herpesvirus.
Mucho Macho Man, a close second to Fort Larned in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, makes his first start since January in Friday's third race at Belmont Park, a $90,000 overnight stakes at 1 1/16 miles over the main track.
Jockey Diego Saenz registered his 1,000th career Thoroughbred win in North America in Saturday night’s fourth race at Evangeline Downs, where he is the leading rider. His first Thoroughbred win came in 2004 at Retama Park.
Lone Star-based jockey Gerado Mora is scheduled to resume riding Saturday, said his agent, Toby Cathey. Mora has been out with an infection in his leg following a bout with the flu.
Mora missed last weekend’s races and was not named to ride Thursday or Friday, as entries for those cards closed before he received clearance from his doctors on Monday. Mora won the riding title at the Sam Houston Race Park meet that closed in March.
Jockey Cody Jensen won the $822,603 Ruidoso Downs Derby for Quarter Horses on Saturday just 18 days removed from having 10 screws and a plate placed in his collar bone, which was shattered in five pieces, according to the New Mexico track.
Jensen guided Wicked Courage to his seventh straight win in the race and had been aboard for all of the victories in the streak, except the horse’s trial for the Ruidoso Downs Derby on May 25 because he was regrouping from the injury sustained in a riding accident at Remington Park.
The funding structure for the Razorback series for 2-year-old Arkansas-breds that is run each year at Louisiana Downs has changed, and with the details now in place the races are confirmed to be held at the Bossier City, La., track on Sept. 21. It will be the 20th running of both the $50,000 Razorback, which is for colts and geldings at six furlongs, and the $50,000 Lady Razorback, restricted to fillies and run over the same distance.
Drinking Fund and Lillie Abbie were both stakes winners in their last starts, and both are surprise entrants in separate overnight races Thursday, between Louisiana Downs and Lone Star Park.
Drinking Fund is on deck first, at Louisiana Downs. She will be seeking her sixth consecutive win when she starts in the second race, a $10,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Lillie Abbie, meanwhile, runs Thursday night at Lone Star Park, in a $10,000 claimer for fillies and mares over 7 1/2 furlongs on the grass.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Byrama, winner of two sprint stakes on turf, will switch surfaces and race at 1 1/8 miles for the second time in her career in Saturday’s $250,000 Vanity Handicap on the synthetic main track at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said Tuesday that Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens will ride Byrama, who has won 4 of 18 starts and $334,750, all for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. Byrama was second in the Providencia Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita in April 2012.
