Fri, 04/26/2013 - 16:41

Hollywood Park notes: Gomez, off to hot start, headed to Kentucky

Barbara D. Livingston
Beholder, under Garrett Gomez, wins the Las Virgenes Stakes

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Garrett Gomez left California on Thursday evening for a week of riding in Kentucky, fresh off an ideal start on the opening day of the Betfair Hollywood Park meeting.

Gomez rode two winners from six mounts on Thursday, including Summer Exclusive in the $73,600 Harry Henson Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters.

Next week, Gomez has big mounts in several top races at Churchill Downs, notably Beholder in the Kentucky Oaks and Vyjack in the Kentucky Derby.

“I’m hoping for some good luck,” Gomez said.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 16:30

Belmont Park: Silverette at even money for Gold Princess Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Silverette is the even-money favorite on the morning line for the $85,000 Gold Princess Stakes, which will be her second start of the year.

Silverette, who showed considerable promise early in her 3-year-old season, makes her second start back from a layoff as the likely favorite in Sunday’s $85,000 Gold Princess overnight stakes, which is carded as race 3 on a 10-race program.

The even-money choice on the morning line, Silverette drew post 2 and will take on Enchante, Expression, Munnings Sister, Ode to Sami, and Well Kept in the six-furlong race for older fillies and mares. All starters carry 118 pounds.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 16:29

Kentucky Oaks: Rose to Gold is this year's Cinderella candidate

Barbara D. Livingston
Rose to Gold, who has been an overachiever, cost her owner just $1,400, but has earned her way into the field for the Kentucky Oaks.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Perhaps the best of the four workouts that took place during the special Derby/Oaks training session here at Churchill Downs on Friday was turned in by the 3-year-old filly Rose to Gold. With Calvin Borel aboard, Rose to Gold breezed an easy-as-can-be four furlongs in 47.68 seconds before galloping out five-eighths in 1:00.27 and pulling up three-quarters in 1:13.37.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 15:57

Mid-South notes: Justin Phillip to start in Grade 2 True North

Tom Keyser
Justin Phillip, the winner of the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn on April 13, likely will start next in the Grade 2 True North Handicap at Belmont on June 8.

Justin Phillip wrapped up his perfect Oaklawn meet with a win in the Grade 3, $250,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 13, and now he has his sights set on Belmont Park. Trainer Steve Asmussen said the horse is being pointed toward the Grade 2, $400,000 True North Handicap, a six-furlong race on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 8.

“He’s had a little luck in a stakes on Belmont Day before,” Asmussen said.

Justin Phillip registered the most prestigious win of his career in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes undercard in 2011.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 15:55

Hollywood Park: Moone’s My Name, Halo Dolly catch a break in Wilshire Handicap

Tom Keyser
A Grade 2 winner last summer at Del Mar, Halo Dolly lost twice recently as the favorite at Golden Gate with reasonable alibis.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The female turf division in California gets a small boost Sunday at Betfair Hollywood Park, where eight fillies and mares race one mile in the Grade 3 Wilshire Handicap.

With local leaders Tiz Flirtatious and Lady of Shamrock waiting for the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on May 27, the $100,000 Wilshire offers a chance for a European upstart to win her first graded stakes and for a California veteran to return to form.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 15:53

Churchill Downs: Quinonez injured in training accident

Jockey Luis Quinonez will be sidelined three or four months after sustaining two fractured vertebrae in a Tuesday morning spill at Churchill, according to agent Monty Penney.

Quinonez, 46, was astride a 5-year-old named Bid a Moon for trainer Lynn Whiting when the horse broke down during a workout. Bid a Moon, claimed off a win last month at Oaklawn Park for $30,000, had to be euthanized.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 15:30

Kentucky Derby training plans shuffled

Barbara D. Livingston
Vyjack worked Friday at Churchill Downs, with his rider (and trainer), Rudy Rodriguez, urging him through five furlongs in 1:00.36 in an effort Rodriguez called "perfect.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With rain predicted to fall this weekend at Churchill Downs, workouts for several contenders for the May 4 Kentucky Derby are being adjusted, with Falling Sky, among others, going out Friday, and trainer Todd Pletcher deciding to work the majority of his Derby, and all his Kentucky Oaks candidates, on Saturday now instead of Sunday.

[KENTUCKY DERBY WORKOUTS: Video analysis, news, and times]

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 14:50

Emerald Downs: Winning Machine faces challenges from pair of youngsters

AUBURN, Wash. – Jockeying for position in Emerald Downs’s handicap division begins in earnest Sunday when Winning Machine, runner-up in the 2012 Longacres Mile, tops a field of eight in a $21,000 allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs. First post for the eight-race card is 2  p.m. Pacific.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 14:42

Woodbine: Gonzalez loads up in Whimsical Stakes

Tom Keyser
Sisterly Love was supplemented to the Whimsical for $3,000.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Nick Gonzalez will take three shots at Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Whimsical Stakes when he runs Evil Kitten, Man Stuff, and Starship Universe in the six-furlong dash for fillies and mares at Woodbine.

Evil Kitten and Man Stuff are both making their first start of the year and have been breezing together, according to Gonzalez.

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 14:41

Woodbine notes: Up With the Birds to make one start before Queen's Plate

Lynn Roberts
Up With the Birds (left) likely will make one more start prior to the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on July 7.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Malcolm Pierce, after wintering at Fair Grounds and stopping over at the Keeneland meet, was back at Woodbine on Thursday.

Among Pierce’s charges who had arrived here before him was Up With the Birds, the Sam-Son Farm homebred 3-year-old colt who ran well in two starts south of the border and is targeting the $1 million Queen’s Plate here July 7.