GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Catchusifyoucan is a candidate for the $125,000 Debutante at Churchill Downs after her impressive maiden special weight win last weekend at Lone Star Park.
Trainer Bret Calhoun said the June 26 stakes in Kentucky is the probable target for Catchusifyoucan as the 2-year-old filly is not eligible for any of the upcoming restricted stakes in Texas.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller will make his Texas debut Monday when he saddles four graded stakes winners on the Lone Star Million Day card at Lone Star Park.
Miller has C Z Rocket in the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile, Get Her Number in the $300,000 Texas Derby, Laura’s Light in the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff, and Texas Wedge in the $100,000 Chamberlain Bridge.
“It’s nice to come in with a really strong group,” Miller said. “Hopefully, they acquit themselves well.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Dylan Davis, out of the saddle since March 20, when he broke his collarbone in a spill at Aqueduct, has been cleared to start getting on horses.
Davis got on three horses for trainer Mark Hennig Tuesday and galloped five horses on Wednesday. He was expected to breeze his first horse on Thursday with the hope of being able to take calls starting next week.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Last year, the mare Oleksandra beat the boys in the Grade 1 Jaipur.
On June 5, when Oleksandra goes for a repeat in that race, she is expected to have another female in the starting gate with her in Got Stormy.
Trainer Mark Casse said Wednesday that Got Stormy is pointing to the six-furlong Jaipur, which is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November at Del Mar.
ELMONT, N.Y. – In an older male division that could use some reinforcements, the undefeated Happy Saver makes his 4-year-old debut Friday in a one-mile, multi-conditioned allowance race at Belmont Park.
Happy Saver, a 4-year-old son of Super Saver, made all four of his starts last year, capped by a victory over Mystic Guide in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup here last Oct. 10. Mystic Guide has come back to win twice, including the Dubai World Cup in March.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Like the King, 12th in the Kentucky Derby off a victory in the Jeff Ruby Steaks on the Turfway synthetic, is switching surfaces again when he faces seven other 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on turf in the Audubon on Saturday at Churchill Downs. The Palace Malice colt, trained by Wesley Ward, has three starts on dirt, three on synthetics, and one on turf, which resulted in an easy maiden win last September at Belterra Park.
The Audubon field includes Palazzi, Like the King, Cave Hill, Hidden Enemy, Haddassah, Cellist, Holy Vow, and Royal Prince.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Maybe the Saturday stakes at Churchill Downs with the most quality is the Shawnee, which matches multiple graded winners Envoutante and Paris Lights in a field of eight fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles.
Envoutante, a romping winner of the Falls City here last fall for trainer Ken McPeek, comes off a runner-up finish behind Shedaresthedevil in the Grade 1 La Troienne, an April 30 race in which Paris Lights had a four-race win streak snapped when sixth.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fairly good news for Helium is that he finished ahead of 11 opponents in the Kentucky Derby. The fairly bad news is that he not only incurred his first career defeat when eighth at 38-1, but the effort also suggested he’ll need to improve substantially to join the ranks of North America’s elite 3-year-olds.
Del Mar, Golden Gate Fields, and Santa Anita are enacting a policy later this summer to ban horses that run in two consecutive 1,000-yard races for Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos.
The loosely worded terms, which appear in the first condition book of the Del Mar summer meeting, urge Thoroughbred trainers to communicate with racing officials at three venues before entering at Los Alamitos.
From start to finish, Crazy Beautiful had a troubled journey in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on April 30.
There is the strong likelihood of a less eventful trip in Sunday’s Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita.
The $200,000 Summertime Oaks, run at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-old fillies, drew only seven nominations and may have four starters. The field is led by the unbeaten filly Soothsay, the winner of the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 3 in her second start.
