ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s a chicken-versus-egg question, considering why certain trainers do well in certain kinds of races. Are their training methods tailored to help horses succeed in such situations? Or are the horses coming into their program naturally suited to the races?
Trainer Mike Stidham weighed in on the subject years ago, asked, one day, what made him a good turf trainer. “Having turf horses,” came the reply.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Best Gift of All drops in class Wednesday night at Woodbine in the fourth race and should be favored in the nonwinners-of-two allowance for Ontario-sired females, which is scheduled for a mile on the grass.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Nipissing’s connections had dreams of the Queen’s Plate as far back as last fall, when the filly stretched out successfully for the 1 1/16-mile Princess Elizabeth.
Now those hopes are less than a month from becoming a reality after Nipissing captured the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks by three-quarters of a length for trainer Rachel Halden, jockey Steven Bahen, and the Chiefswood Stable of Robert and Mark Krembil.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Orb won the Kentucky Derby but finished behind Oxbow in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, and those two colts both were behind Palace Malice on Saturday in the Belmont, leaving the male 3-year-old title up for grabs nearing the midway point of the year.
Three different horses winning three legs of the Triple Crown has happened often, including just two years ago, but there never was a subsequent showdown in 2011. This year, however, all three are pointing to the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24. The routes they take there could differ, though.
On the Key will try to make amends when he makes his second start at Northlands Park in a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds that will serve as Wednesday’s feature. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew seven horses and goes as race 8 on the nine-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.
The connections of Stephanie’s Kitten will meet in the coming days to discuss their summer options for the horse, who added a win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Just a Game to her résumé.
Stephanie’s Kitten, who improved her record to 7 for 12, flew back to Kentucky on Sunday and will spend a few sessions in the hyperbaric chamber at the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic in Lexington, said her trainer, Wayne Catalano, who flew back to Chicago on Saturday night.
ELMONT, N.Y. – With the Belmont Stakes in the rearview mirror, the countdown to opening day at Saratoga begins for followers of this circuit. For the record, including Wednesday, there are 24 racing days remaining at Belmont Park before the action shifts upstate for seven weeks.
There figures to be more appealing offerings than Wednesday’s nine-race card, one topped by a $57,000 first-level New York-bred allowance at six furlongs that drew a field of 10 fillies and mares.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Dynamic Sky, who had been blanked in four starts since winning the seven-furlong Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 12, got back on target when he scored by a nose here in Sunday’s 1 1/8-mile Plate Trial.
Mark Casse, who trains Dynamic Sky for John Oxley, had watched the colt finish third here in the seven-furlong Queenston and had brought in jockey Joel Rosario for the $150,000 Plate Trial for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Bob Baffert has found his Haskell horse.
Despite being a non-factor in this year’s Triple Crown – his only runner, Govenor Charlie, finished next-to-last in the Preakness – Baffert could be a presence in the second half of the 3-year-old season with Power Broker.
On Saturday, Power Broker won his second straight race, a pace-prompting 3 3/4-length victory in the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park. Power Broker was coming off an allowance win at Churchill four weeks earlier.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fort Larned had his final workout toward the Stephen Foster Handicap when breezing five furlongs in 1:01.40 early Monday over a muddy Churchill Downs surface.
Regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. was aboard Fort Larned for the work, which was his seventh since his last race, a fifth-place finish in the April 13 Oaklawn Handicap. He is one of six older horses expected Saturday night for the Grade 1, $500,000 Foster.
“He went great, finished up real well,” Hernandez said. “He’s happy, I’m happy.”
