Monmouth Park will kick off its 2026 live racing season with an eight-race card Saturday, and Kelly Breen could not be more prepared to return to his home track. The New Jersey-based trainer, who turns 57 later this month, has been limited since undergoing neck fusion surgery in 2023, but he said he’s “energetically optimistic” about the upcoming season.
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DRF Past Performances
ARCADIA, Calif. – When the colt So Happy returned this week to Santa Anita after finishing ninth in the Kentucky Derby, he joined two others in a rare slice of racetrack trivia.
The month of May might be the first month ever in which three Santa Anita Derby winners – So Happy, Journalism, and Stronghold – will train simultaneously over the same track.
Talk to Me Jimmy, who had been mentioned as a possible starter in the Preakness Stakes, will stay home to run in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Wednesday.
Talk to Me Jimmy won the Withers Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct in February before finishing eighth, beaten 4 1/2 lengths in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 4.
Rodriguez said the opportunity to stay home against a smaller field made the Peter Pan “a better spot, much easier spot” than the Preakness.
“I think we fit pretty good here,” Rodriguez.
Dry Power, who finished ninth of 10 in the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs on May 1, will wheel back in eight days in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Ruffian is a one-turn mile, the configuration of Dry Powder’s allowance win at Gulfstream Park on March 12. The La Troienne was run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns.
“A one-turn mile is probably her ideal distance and trip,” trainer Chad Summers said Wednesday. “I’m probably an idiot who should have run here in the first place and not gone to Churchill.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Seal Team was withdrawn from Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita after trainer Richard Mandella said he was unsatisfied with a blood test taken from the 6-year-old horse in days before the race.
Another opportunity is not far away.
Mandella mentioned the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf on May 25 as a goal. Seal Team was third by 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile on turf on April 18.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Winning four, or even five races, in a single day, was an occasional occurrence for jockey Kazushi Kimura at Woodbine from his rookie year in 2018 to 2024. He had five four-win days in 2023 alone.
Last Saturday, Kimura achieved the four-win milestone in the United States for the first time at Santa Anita.
“Sometimes, we have a good time,” Kimura said of the results. “I’m so grateful to have the wins.”
The New York Racing Association will have a relatively low-key celebration to mark the closing of Aqueduct on its final weekend of racing June 27-28.
Plans, announced Tuesday, include on June 27 a Caribbean-themed party that will include live music and a free rum tasting hosted by Mount Gay.
On June 28, fans will get a final photo opportunity at the Big A. Also, the first 1,000 fans through the door will receive a souvenir mini-mason jar of dirt from Aqueduct’s main track.
Total wagering and average wagering per race were both up marginally at the recently completed Tampa Bay Downs meet in Oldsmar, Fla., according to a Daily Racing Form analysis.
Total handle over the 90-day meet stretching from November to May was $382.1 million, up 1 percent over last year's handle of $378.3 million over 90 days. Tampa ran three fewer races during the 2025-2026 meet than the prior meet, and average handle per race was up 1.4 percent to $467,079 per race.
Overall handle and average handle per race at the recently concluded Oaklawn Park meet in Hot Springs, Ark., showed marginal gains compared to the previous meet. However, a shift in the racing week took its toll on field size, according to a Daily Racing Form analysis.
Total handle for the 62-day meet rose 3 percent to $430.75 million, while average handle per race increased 2 percent to $687,001, according to the analysis. Oaklawn Park ran 627 races this year over 62 days, compared to 621 races over 62 days last year.