OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unlike his younger stablemate Verrazano, Discreet Dancer was unable to successfully stretch out in distance after winning the first two starts of his career in one-turn races.
Undefeated in four starts around one turn, the now 4-year-old Discreet Dancer looks for his first Grade 1 victory in Saturday’s $400,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.
Revv Me Up won for the first time in her nine-race career in a time trial March 16 for Saturday’s $200,000 La Primera Del Ano Derby for fillies at Los Alamitos.
Previously, she was second six times, including a nose loss in the $125,000 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes on Feb. 24, before the breakthrough win in the trials.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The twists and turns on the Kentucky Derby trail took another hairpin curve on Thursday afternoon when it was announced that Hear the Ghost, the San Felipe Stakes winner, would miss the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday because of an injury. He becomes the third horse, following Fountain of Youth runner-up Violence and Risen Star winner Ive Struck a Nerve, to be removed from consideration for the May 4 Kentucky Derby after winning a prep worth 50 points to the winner.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – There are allowance races, and then there are Keeneland allowance races.
Few American racetracks, if any, consistently offer the kind of non-stakes race that Keeneland will serve up Saturday as an appetizer to the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. The fourth of 10 races, a $68,000 turf route, not only drew Turallure, an earner of more than $1.3 million, but also Forte Dei Marmi, Al Khali, and Air Support – all of them boasting big bankrolls and extensive graded-race experience.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The list of leading contenders for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3 is growing by the week.
Flashy wins by Midnight Lucky in the Sunland Park Oaks on March 24 and Dreaming of Julia in the Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 30 have expanded the list. On Saturday, reigning division champion Beholder can reaffirm her status at the top of the list in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks.
Trainer Richard Mandella said earlier this week that he has kept tabs on Beholder’s competition, respects them, but is confident in his filly.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – In normal times, having a horse win a $500,000 race would represent a monumental feat for just about any trainer.
But these are extraordinary times for Graham Motion. Last Saturday, Motion was halfway around the world to saddle Animal Kingdom for a smashing victory in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
So, when Motion is at Keeneland on Saturday to send out a couple of fillies named Kitten’s Point and Tuttipaesi for the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes, won’t he be feeling a bit of a buzzkill?
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The 11th Florida Cup, an afternoon of racing that features six $75,000 stakes for horses bred in the Sunshine State, will be held Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
Perhaps the most interesting and competitive race of the day is the $75,000 Sprint, a six-furlong race that includes Good Lord, who came off a short layoff in his first race of 2013 to score a bang-up victory over Action Andy in the seven-furlong Super Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Combined, they have won nine consecutive races by more than 61 lengths.
Saturday, the Maryland-based Walkwithapurpose invades New York to take on local talent Princess of Sylmar in an intriguing renewal of the Grade 2, $250,000 Gazelle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.
One winter day at Aqueduct a decade ago, Efraim Rosa stood sentry in the jockeys’ room when Irad Ortiz, his old friend from Puerto Rico, came by with his two grandchildren, Irad Jr. and Jose. So close in age they looked like twins, the boys were still a few years short of their teens.
“These are going to be my jockeys!” exclaimed the grandfather, who had been a jockey in Puerto Rico but was now working on the backstretch in New York.
