Thu, 06/06/2013 - 08:54

Indiana Downs: Unreachable Star, Ms. Smitty win Wednesday stakes

Unreachable Star, under Marlon St. Julien, made an impressive move in the stretch and ran down his 10 Indiana-sired opponents to win the $89,250 William Henry Harrison at Indiana Downs Wednesday evening. In the other stakes on the card, Ms. Smitty came from just off the pace to take the $88,000 Shelby County against Indiana-sired fillies and mares.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 17:20

Lone Star Park: Lasting Bubbles back on dirt for Friday allowance

Lasting Bubbles will return to Lone Star Park’s main track, where she is 2 for 2, in Friday night’s fourth race. The second-level allowance race for fillies and mares will be run at six furlongs. The race has a field of six, including 13-time winner Miss Oops.

Lasting Bubbles made a rare turf appearance last month at Lone Star in the $50,000 Lane’s End Stallion Scholarship Stakes, a 7 1/2-furlong race in which she missed by a nose. She found herself farther off the pace than usual after she did not break sharply.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 17:16

Retama Park: First meet under Pinnacle Entertainment begins Friday

Retama Park near San Antonio opens a 20-date meet for Quarter Horses on Friday night, its first season under Pinnacle Entertainment, the Las Vegas-based company that completed its acquisition of a majority interest in the track on Jan. 30.

In a $22.8 million deal, Pinnacle, which owns River Downs in Ohio and seven casinos in Louisiana, Missouri, and Indiana, acquired a 75.5 percent stake in Retama.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 17:05

Hollywood Park: Midnight Lucky eyes Prioress at Saratoga

Barbara D. Livingston
Midnight Lucky won the Sunland Park Oaks in her stakes debut in March.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Midnight Lucky, the winner of the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park on May 27, will run in the $300,000 Prioress Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over six furlongs at Saratoga on July  27, trainer Bob Baffert said.

Midnight Lucky has won 3 of 4 starts and $362,100. She won the Sunland Park Oaks in her stakes debut in March, but was fifth in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 16:53

Hollywood Park: Chew, Litt going for first graded wins

Shigeki Kikkawa
Lucky Primo, winner of the California Cup Classic last October, will start Saturday in the $200,000 Charles Whittingham Handicap.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Becky Lou and Lucky Primo could provide trainers Matt Chew and Joshua Litt with milestone wins at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday – their first graded stakes wins.

Chew, 52, recalls winning stakes on the Northern California fair circuit in the 1980s. Litt, 43, has won two stakes for California-breds in recent years.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 16:46

Belmont Park: Soft turf in Manhattan won't deter Point of Entry

Barbara D. Livingston
Point of Entry, scratched from the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic due to soft turf at Churchill Downs, is being pointed to the Manhattan.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After having scratched out of the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve due to less than firm turf, trainer Shug McGaughey said that Point of Entry would run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Manhattan at Belmont Park regardless of course condition.

There is a forecast for rain Friday, carrying over into Saturday morning.

“Obviously, I’m a little concerned, but he’s going to run anyway,” McGaughey said Wednesday.

McGaughey said that 1 1/4 miles at Belmont is a different type of race than 1 1/8 miles at Churchill, where the Woodford Reserve was run.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 16:43

Emerald Downs: Wasserman to give Jade Road a stiff test

AUBURN, Wash. – A young buck will meet an old pro Friday when Jade Road, undefeated through two starts, tackles venerable former Longacres Mile hero Wasserman and six others in the feature race at Emerald Downs. The one-mile feature, a $17,500 claimer for older horses, is the sixth of seven races on a program that begins at 6:45 p.m. Pacific.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 16:35

Remington Park: Quinonez hopes to return to races at summer meet

Jockey Luis Quinonez hopes to begin physical therapy later this month as he continues to heal from two fractured vertebrae sustained in an April 23 training accident at Churchill Downs. Quinonez has been recovering at his home in Jones, Okla., and he anticipates a return to riding during the Remington Park meet that begins Aug. 16.

“I want to be ready for opening day at Remington,” said Quinonez, a 46-year-old who has won more than 3,280 races and compiled more than $55 million in mount earnings.

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 16:26

Belmont Stakes notes: Lukas a road warrior

Barbara D. Livingston
Oxbow, winner of the Preakness, will start for D. Wayne Lukas in the Belmont.

ELMONT, N.Y. - He was the original jet-setter in racing. “Wayne off the plane” was the cry when trainer D. Wayne Lukas would fly his horses across the country to knock off Grade 1 stakes. Now, he’s grounded, Lukas preferring to hit the road with, as he puts it, “my friends George and Willie.”

Wed, 06/05/2013 - 16:07

Belmont Stakes: Repole believes his horses belong

Barbara D. Livingston
At 8-1 on the morning line, Unlimited Budget is the shortest price of the three Belmont entrants owned by Mike Repole.

ELMONT, N.Y. - As a native New Yorker who has been attending races at Aqueduct and Belmont for nearly three decades, owner Mike Repole has made no bones about his desire to win the Belmont Stakes.

“This is the race I want to win, this is the race for 30 years I dreamt of winning,” Repole said.