BALTIMORE – Journalism, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, drew post 2 and was installed as the strong favorite in a field of nine entered Monday for Saturday’s 150th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.
Pimlico linemaker Dan Illman made Journalism the 8-5 favorite, while Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona pegged Journalism as the 6-5 choice. Journalism was the 3-1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby, finishing second by 1 1/2 lengths to Sovereignty.
Could he have won? At least finished in the top 4? No one ever will know how Burnham Square would have fared in the Kentucky Derby had he not been checked hard before the far turn, dropping back from a favorable spot on the rail to an impossible spot back on his heels before rallying again – gamely, after all chance had been lost – for sixth.
“He was in a great position. Brian [Hernandez Jr.] was ready to let him ease into the race. He said he only had one horse to go around. We may have been on the lead turning for home. . .” trainer Ian Wilkes recalled.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After giving Rohan Crichton the first graded stakes victory of his training career with his convincing tally over Madaket Road in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard, it will be on to Saratoga and the Grade 1 Woody Stephens for the 3-year-old Florida-bred Macho Music.
Friday’s program at Santa Anita will begin with a carryover of $94,783 in the $2 pick six.
The bet covers races four through nine on a program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific.
Track officials project that the pool of new money will surpass $500,000.
Friday’s carryover was clinched in Sunday’s final race with an upset win by Miss Joe’s Curlin, who paid $24.20. Earlier in the sequence, pays ranged from a mere $2.20 on Miss Miche Lada in the fourth race to $53.20 on Tariff in the fifth race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jody’s Pride, winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes will be pointed to the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23, trainer Jorge Abreu said Sunday.
Abreu pointed to how well Jody’s Pride runs fresh, which is why he is planning to skip races like the Bed o’ Roses on June 6 and Honorable Miss on July 20.
“She runs better fresh, [Saturday] she ran a hard race,” Abreu said. “She came out of the race in good shape.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York-bred Whatchatalkinabout, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 John Nerud Stakes, could be headed west for his next start, that being the Grade 1, $400,000 Bing Crosby at Del Mar on July 26.
Trainer Wesley Ward said the combination of the Bing Crosby being six furlongs, the 11 weeks between races, and the fact he has another top sprinter, Nakatomi, pointed to the sprint stakes this summer at Saratoga are the reasons he’s looking at the Bing Crosby for Whatchatalkinabout.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement has gotten off to a terrific start at the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet with five wins – four in stakes – through the first two weeks.
Clement won Saturday’s Grade 2 Man o’ War with heavily favored Far Bridge, who will now be pointed to the Grade 1 Manhattan at Saratoga on June 7. Clement could point three horses to that race, including Deterministic and Carson’s Run, the one-two finishers from the Grade 2 Fort Marcy on May 3.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In Hill Road, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Chad Brown will be bringing a relatively fresh horse to the June 7 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. But Brown doesn’t think that gives him any sort of advantage over horses like Kentucky Derby first- and third-place finishers Sovereignty and Baeza, who are skipping Saturday’s Preakness to point to the Belmont.
Kathy Walsh, the retired trainer who died on Thursday, was a reluctant pioneer.
When she began training in 1970, following the death of her father Jim, female trainers were largely unwelcome.
In that regard, Walsh broke barriers. She won training titles at Longacres in Washington State and Canterbury Downs – now Canterbury Park - in Minnesota. She won Grade 1 races in Southern California and had a starter in the Kentucky Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though she is nominated to Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico, the multiple stakes-winning New York-bred 3-year-old filly Bernieandtherose will stay with her own kind in the $200,000 Bouwerie Stakes on June 4 at Saratoga.
Bernieandtherose has won four consecutive New York-bred races, including the East View and Maddie May stakes. She was entered in the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes on April 5 at Aqueduct but scratched due to a cough.
