The goal for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert on May 17 is a record-extending ninth victory in the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. He took the next step on that path May 11 when he sent Goal Oriented to the track for a half-mile breeze over the Churchill Downs track….
For the longest time in the stretch, it looked like two 3-year-olds trained by Rick Dutrow Jr. would complete the exacta in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G3). Then the mile-and-an-eighth race that’s touted as a steppingstone to the June 7 Belmont Stakes (G1) served up a preview of what might indeed happen in the…
Two years after George Weaver landed his first Royal Ascot success with Crimson Advocate , the trainer hopes to be back in a winning position overseas once more with Dew Sweepers’ Sandal’s Song . Unraced before the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes, Sandal’s Song made his debut a winning one, rocketing home by 1 1/2 lengths May 10 at…
After Jody’s Pride captured her first two starts and was second, beaten a neck, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita Park in November 2023, it appeared only a matter of time before she would break through with a victory at the graded stakes level. That time at long last came May…
Shisospicy kept the flame burning hot for her third win in a row for Morplay Racing, capturing the $224,625 Mamzelle Stakes (G3T) May 10 at Churchill Downs. Although she achieved her two prior wins in gate-to-wire fashion, jockey Jose Ortiz didn’t panic when Dreamaway beat Shisospicy to the early punch in the Mamzelle. Applying outside pressure…
Strong-finishing Abaan denied champion Snap Decision to win the $250,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois Stakes (NSA-G1) over jumps May 10 at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tenn. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Daigneault Thoroughbreds’ Abaan, an 8-year-old son of Will Take Charge , turned the tables on Snap Decision—last year’s Eclipse Award-winning steeplechase horse—who had edged him at Middleburg three weeks…
The $169,750 John A. Nerud Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack was short on competitors, but not on drama. Three sprinters battled to a photo finish, with Whatchatalkinabout narrowly prevailing over Silver Slugger and Surveillance . Whatchatalkinabout, who chased pacesetting Silver Slugger through fractions of :21.89 and :44.84 in the six-furlong race, was courageous in the lane, inching past…
Hollie Doyle praised Hayley Turner after surpassing her former weighing-room colleague as the winningest female jockey in Britain following her 1,023rd victory on Brindavan at Ascot Racecourse May 10. Doyle, 28, passed 100 winners for the first time in 2019 and reached 1,000 domestic winners in March. She ended that 2019 campaign with 116 winners,…
Leinster extended his early lead over the freshman sire class when his 2-year-old daughter Lennilu gave the first-crop stallion his first stakes winner in the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes May 10 at Gulfstream Park. A multiple graded stakes-winning turf sprinter himself, it was no surprise to see Leinster’s filly Lennilu take to the…
Zarigana will start an overwhelming favorite for the first French fillies’ classic, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, G1) May 11 at Longchamp, although some might argue her price is hard to justify based on her last two starts. Deep ground and a wide trip cost her a narrow defeat to stablemate…
