INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There are three notable absences from Saturday's American Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park: Defending champion Wilkinson, the multiple stakes winner Jeranimo, and Indy Point, the winner of the 2012 Argentine Derby.
Wilkinson an optional claimer on May 2. Trainer Jeff Mullins said on Wednesday that Wilkinson is being pointed for the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on June 29.
“I didn’t want to run him back that quick,” Mullins said. “We’ll point for the Shoemaker. He’s doing okay.”
The 5-year-old mare Onepointhreekarats reaffirmed her affinity for the main track at Delaware Park on Wednesday when she scored a front-running two-length victory in the $51,625 Winter Melody Stakes for older fillies and mares.
ELMONT, N.Y. – A solid field of nine is shaping up for Monday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, but the race did lose a horse on Wednesday who may have vied for favoritism in the one-mile race.
Jimmy Creed, winner of the Grade 1 Malibu in December and Grade 2 Potrero Grande in April, will not ship cross-country from Southern California for the Met as originally planned. Trainer Richard Mandella said Wednesday that he wasn’t satisfied with Jimmy Creed’s seven-furlong workout in 1:27.60 on Saturday at Santa Anita.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Delightful Quality is skipping a condition when she starts in Friday’s featured $74,000 second-level allowance race at seven furlongs at Belmont Park, but the competition she faces appears softer than what she has been facing.
Delightful Quality is still eligible for a first-level allowance race, but trainer Tom Albertrani said he was unable to find a suitable spot for his 4-year-old filly, which is why he put her in here.
AUBURN, Wash. – Go With Gusto, seeking his 11th local victory, and Wasserman, hero of the 2008 Longacres Mile, headline the feature race Friday at Emerald Downs. The seven-race twilight card begins at 6:45 p.m. Pacific and the feature, a $17,500 claimer for older horses at 6 1/2 furlongs, is race 6.
Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico will have record purses for its most important Quarter Horse stakes at its 60-date mixed meet that opens Friday. The season continues through Labor Day, Sept. 2.
The All American Derby will be worth $2.8 million when it is run at Ruidoso on Sept. 1, making the 440-yard dash the richest Quarter Horse race ever offered. Last year, the All American Derby was worth $2.2 million. Trials for this year’s All American Derby are Aug. 16.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Glitter in My Face is perfect in three starts following her win in the $281,100 Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos last Sunday. It will be a few months before her unbeaten record will be challenged.
Owned by Antonio Flores and trained by his son, Jose Antonio Flores, Glitter in My Face is not extensively nominated to the major futurities at Los Alamitos this year. Jose Antonio Flores said after the Kindergarten that Glitter in My Face has only one more futurity this year – the Governor’s Cup Futurity on July 27.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Hooh Why, it turns out, will not actually race forever.
A 7-year-old mare with 51 starts, Hooh Why is in foal to Leroidesanimaux and has only a couple more runs left in her racing career before going on to life as a broodmare. One of them could come Saturday in the Arlington Matron, which drew Hooh Why and eight other entrants when it was drawn Wednesday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The only horse in Saturday’s $150,000 American Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park to win at the highest level on turf will not be favored in the one-mile grass race.
Lucayan, who won the Group 1 French 2000 Guineas in Paris last May, makes his United States debut in the Grade 2 American Handicap for trainer Neil Drysdale.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Best Present Ever’s summer campaign will be dictated by the results of a turf sprint at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday.
“If she doesn’t run well on Friday, I’ll kick her out,” trainer Eric Kruljac said.
Owned by breeders Dennis and Norine Grenier, Best Present Ever won the Campanile Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies last June and was later third to the multiple stakes winner Lady of Shamrock in the Grade 1 American Oaks here last July.
