Kentucky Oaks hopeful Dream Lith is scheduled to arrive at Fair Grounds on Monday, according to her trainer, Robertino Diodoro.
She was freshened in Kentucky following her win in the Grade 2 Golden Rod on Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs. Dream Lith had been scheduled to join Diodoro’s barn at Oaklawn but is now headed to Fair Grounds as the trainer is setting up a small division in New Orleans.
Dream Lith could return to the races at either Fair Grounds or Oaklawn.
The global pandemic year of 2020 made a lot of people take stock of their position in the world. It happened for the jockey Reylu Gutierrez, but not just because of COVID-19.
Gutierrez was part of the tough Saratoga jockey colony during the 2020 racing season and came out of the meet with one winner from 84 mounts. A native of upstate New York, Gutierrez went home to Rochester and hung his tack at Finger Lakes, where his father, Luis, is a veteran trainer.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s always a good thing when a trainer sends the defending champ to run in a $1 million race, as trainer Todd Pletcher will with Colonel Liam in the Pegasus World Cup Turf here on Jan. 29. But it never hurts to have a little backup just in case, as Pletcher now has with Never Surprised, who also is being pointed for the Pegasus Turf following a one-sided victory in Sunday’s Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- For the second straight card the pick six at Aqueduct was not hit, resulting in a $195,762 carryover heading into Friday’s eight-race card.
Since Friday is the last day of the calendar year, there will be a mandatory payout in the pick six, which will begin on race 3 (1:44 p.m. Eastern) and includes the $100,000 Alex M. Robb Handicap for New York-bred males.
Emerald Downs has boosted the purse of the Grade 3 Longacres Mile to $150,000 for its Aug. 14 running. Last year, the Longacres Mile was worth $100,000.
The Longacres Mile tops a slate of 21 stakes worth a total of $1,245,000 at the 2022 Emerald Downs meet, according to a release from the Auburn, Wash., track. The 52-day meet begins May 15.
There are three other stakes on the Aug. 14 card: the $75,000 Emerald Distaff, $75,000 Muckleshoot Derby, and $75,000 Washington Oaks. The purse for each of those stakes has been raised $25,000 from 2021.
The Sunland Park Derby will be run for the first time in three years on March 27 as part of the New Mexico track’s meet that opens on Friday. The race that carries eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby was last held in 2019, when Cutting Humor won over Anothertwistafate.
Sunland Park, which is located right across the border from El Paso, Texas, will race 55 dates through April 3. The track has a mixed-meet format that features races for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.
Craig Dado recently left his position as a vice-president and chief marketing officer at Del Mar, ending a 30-year involvement in the promotion of Southern California racing.
In a statement released by Del Mar on Wednesday, Dado, 54, said he planned to pursue other business opportunities. Dado left Del Mar shortly after the conclusion of the track’s autumn meeting in late November.
Rockefeller, the winner of the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 7, and Mackinnon, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 5, are part of an expected small field in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita.
The $100,000 Sham Stakes at a mile is the first race for 3-year-olds at the track’s winter spring meeting. The 3-year-old series leads to the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 9.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Untreated won a two-turn maiden race impressively last March at Tampa Bay Downs, so his connections did what connections of a talented 3-year-old typically do at that time of year – ran him in a graded stakes race. Untreated finished eighth in the Grade 2 Blue Grass, 33 3/4 lengths behind winner Essential Quality.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On New Year’s Day 2020, trainer Michael Trombetta won the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct with a 3-year-old son of Constitution named Independence Hall. On New Year’s Day 2022, Trombetta try to pen some more Jerome history in the 152nd running of the race with another 3-year-old son of Constitution, named Mr Jefferson.
