ELMONT, N.Y. – Letruska, who won the Grade 3 Shuvee at Saratoga, worked five furlongs in 59.67 seconds Friday morning over Belmont Park’s main track in preparation for a start in the Grade 2, $150,000 Beldame Stakes on Oct. 4.
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Mystic Guide, winner of the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 5, will most likely bypass Saturday’s Preakness Stakes and make his next start in the Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 10, trainer Mike Stidham said Friday.
Jockey Vinnie Bednar, who suffered lower-limb paralysis in a one-horse spill at Los Alamitos on Aug. 22, was recently transferred to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., according to a message posted earlier this month on a Gofundme web page launched to defray medical costs.
Craig Hospital specializes in treating people with spinal cord injuries.
Bednar, 28, underwent surgery on his spinal cord on Aug. 23 at USC Medical Center and was hospitalized there until the recent transfer.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tiz the Law, a three-time Grade 1 winner this year at 3, worked a half-mile in 50.07 seconds Friday morning over the Belmont Park main track, his first work since his runner-up finish to Authentic in the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Maxfield, widely regarded as a top Derby contender prior to being injured in June, is back in light training at Churchill Downs with trainer Brendan Walsh.
Maxfield suffered a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture during a June 10 workout at Keeneland. Unbeaten in three career starts, the Godolphin homebred missed about 90 days of training and can be expected back at full strength later in the fall or early winter.
Equine standouts such as Midnight Bisou, Newspaperofrecord, Whitmore, and Halladay are among the expected participants when Keeneland Race Course begins its 17-day fall meet next Friday with the three-day FallStars Weekend.
Ten stakes, all but one of them Win and You’re In events toward the Nov. 6-7 Breeders’ Cup, will get things rolling when the historic Lexington, Ky., track opens. The Grade 1 Alcibiades and Grade 2 Phoenix are the opening-day features, with five stakes set for Saturday and three more for Sunday.
Sheldon Russell had been out of sight and out of mind since mid-July, so he was bowled over when he learned that Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will give him a leg up on longshot Excession when the 145th Preakness is run at Pimlico in Baltimore.
“Very surprised,” said Russell. “Pleasantly so.”
Del Mar is lowering the minimum amount for pick-six wagers from $2 to 50 cents at its autumn meeting from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29. The track received regulatory approval for the meeting from the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.
The pick six at Del Mar will continue to have a single-ticket jackpot format, with 80 percent of the net pool paid to tickets with six winners, or into a carryover, and 20 percent of the net pool paid if there is one winning ticket, or into a carryover until there is one winning ticket.
The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday approved the reallocation of two weeks of racing in October from the Big Fresno Fair to Golden Gate Fields following the cancellation of fair activities in Fresno because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A third horse exiting the Kentucky Derby, Max Player, has joined the prospective field for the 145th Preakness.
Trainer Steve Asmussen has confirmed that Max Player, fifth in the Sept. 5 Derby, will be on a Tuesday equine charter flight to Baltimore for the $1 million Preakness, which will be run Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course. Max Player will join the Derby winner, Authentic, and the third-place finisher, Mr. Big News, in traveling from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
