ARCADIA, Calif. – Crazy Beautiful won the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita on Sunday, continuing a remarkable span of success in California in recent years for Kentucky-based trainer Ken McPeek.
Since the start of 2017, McPeek has won four graded stakes from five starters at Santa Anita, including the Grade 1 Beholder Mile in March with Swiss Skydiver, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020.
It will not be long before McPeek has another West Coast starter.
In what is best described as a small sacrifice in the present for a better overall product in the future, work is scheduled to begin next Monday at Gulfstream Park on the installation of a Tapeta synthetic racing surface over what is currently the outer third portion of the turf course.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Rock Your World went off the 9-2 second choice in the Kentucky Derby. Any of his backers in earshot of trainer John Sadler shortly after the break would have known early on those tickets would not be cashed.
Rock Your World bumped with Essential Quality coming out of the starting gate and in the first few strides was in front of just two horses. Though he raced in mid-pack throughout the race, in the end, Rock Your World finished 17th, in front of just two horses, 24 1/4 lengths behind Medina Spirit.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Before the seven stakes were run Saturday at Churchill, a first-time starter named Beau Liam had the ontrack crowd buzzing. Trained by Steve Asmussen for owner-breeder Stonestreet Stables, the 3-year-old Liam’s Map colt earned a 94 Beyer in a 7 1/2-length romp, getting six furlongs in 1:08.62.
“It’s very exciting,” Asmussen said Monday. “He’d obviously shown talent in the mornings, but you never know until they do it in the afternoon.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Poor start? No worries. Fulsome and Set Piece both spotted the opposition head starts in separate stakes Saturday at Churchill Downs, but the Juddmonte Farms homebreds bounded home easy winners under the wire the second time around.
Fulsome, with Florent Geroux riding, earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure in his eye-catching score in the Grade 3 Matt Winn and now joins Essential Quality, Mandaloun, and Caddo River as top-flight 3-year-olds in the powerhouse Brad Cox stable.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The relocation of Award Winner from the Midwest to California late last year has revived the 5-year-old gelding's career.
On Saturday, Award Winner scored a minor upset, and won his first stakes in his 17th start, in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes. Award Winner is trained by David Hofmans for John and Jerry Amerman.
For Hofmans, 78, the $196,000 Whittingham Stakes was his first graded stakes win since Melatonin’s victory in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in June 2016.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Of the senior turf runners in Saturday's stakes at Santa Anita for trainer Richard Mandella, one gave a career-best performance while the other displayed the most perplexing race of his accomplished career.
Bombard, 8, won his first graded stakes in the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf, obliging as the 7-10 favorite.
United, a five-time stakes winner and millionaire who was second in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Turf, finished last of four in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf, a race the 6-year-old won in 2020.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Hot Rod Charlie and Rock Your World both arrived in New York on Saturday night from California and seemed to be settling in their respective barns on the backstretch at Belmont Park on Sunday morning as they head for a meeting in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes next Saturday.
Both were part of a six-horse contingent - including the now 20-year-old pony Lava Man - that flew on a Federal Express flight from Los Angeles International to Newark, N.J., and was then vanned to Belmont Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Ohio, a 10-year-old Brazilian-bred who won four stakes, including the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile in 2019, has been retired and will be retrained for a second career, trainer Michael McCarthy said on Friday.
“He’s going to be trained to be a riding horse and live a second half of his life as fruitful as his first half,” McCarthy said. “The horse has been extremely enjoyable to have around. He’s family.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Del Mar intends to allow 100 percent capacity in seated areas for its summer meeting, which runs from July 16 to Sept. 6, according to a statement released by the track on Friday.
The statement cautioned that terms and conditions of occupancy could change, pending state and local government regulations. California is planning a full-scale reopening of its economy on June 15, which will allow higher occupancy at sports stadiums.
