OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After watching Transparent romp to a 10 3/4-length victory Thursday at Aqueduct, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s first thought was, “Hopefully, we didn’t run in the wrong race.”
While Transparent’s victory certainly was eye-catching, he wasn’t facing the quality of competition he would have had he run in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial.
But Transparent’s victory did earn him a return to stakes company, most likely the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan at Belmont Park on May 11.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Difficult to say what was wider: the grin on Ken Ramsey’s face, or the margin by which a 2-year-old rocket named Sweet Emma Rose won the fourth race.
Either way, it was business as usual at Keeneland, where the 16-day spring meet opened Friday with Ramsey sweeping the early daily double and trainer Wesley Ward winning with a first-time-starting 2-year-old.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Qaraaba, winner of the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes on turf last December, has been retired and will be bred this spring, trainer Simon Callaghan said.
Owned by Alice Bamford and Michael Tabor, Qaraaba won 7 of 15 starts and $171,119. Imported from England last fall, Qaraaba, a 6-year-old mare by Shamardal, won both of her starts in the United States, beginning with an optional claimer at Betfair Hollywood Park last November.
Del Mar will conduct a lottery from Monday through Wednesday for table reservations at three of its restaurants – the Clubhouse Terrace, Stretch Run Grill, and Café Del Sol – for the opening-day program on July 17 and the Pacific Classic program on Aug. 25.
The free random drawing will be held online, with applications accepted from 9 a.m. Pacific on Monday through 5 p.m. Wednesday. Each winning entry can purchase one table.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Apply, a 5-year-old gelding who finished fifth in the fifth race Jan. 21 for $7,000 to $8,000 claimers, tested in excess of the permitted level of total carbon dioxide, according to a ruling published by Santa Anita stewards March 31.
Apply finished 12 1/2 lengths behind race winner Big Wags, but had a post-race test of total carbon dioxide of 39.55 millimoles per liter of plasma. The permitted level is 37 millimoles.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bright Thought, winner of the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes on March 16 in his stakes debut, will be pointed to the Arlington Million in August, co-owner Alex Venneri and trainer Jorge Gutierrez said Friday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Humble Smarty has accomplished a good deal in his career, with four stakes wins, 17 victories and earnings of $494,883. But the 9-year-old has never won a route race on dirt, something he could be favored to do Sunday at Oaklawn in the $60,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Stakes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – If they don’t stop soon, this might become a Grade 1 trend.
Keeneland carded 16 possible starters for the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes on opening weekend, and when the marquee race of the spring meet, the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, is run next Saturday, April 13, there might also be 16 on the program, including two also-eligibles, because the maximum number of starters is 14.
[BLUE GRASS STAKES: Get Keeneland PPs, watch video previews]
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The stakes action for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct isn’t confined to Saturday’s Wood Memorial and Bay Shore.
On Sunday, five 3-year-olds will attempt to convince their trainers to try bigger and better things down the road when they contest a one-turn mile in the $75,000 Fit to Fight Stakes.
Chad Brown and Kiaran McLaughlin, who both had runners in the $1 million Wood Memorial, send out the likely top two choices in Integrity and Now and Then.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Five starts into her winter campaign, In the Stars was getting way too intense. She wanted to go fast. Her trainer wanted her to go slow.
“She was getting a little bit fresh in her races,” Richard Mandella explained. “She was trying to show a lot of speed and pull.”
The middle of February was the right time for a mental freshening, and after a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Buena Vista, Mandella gave In the Stars a seven-week break.
