Tuesday, May 22 2012

I’LL HAVE ANOTHER CONTENT AT BELMONT, COULD SOON RESUME TRAINING

ELMONT, N.Y. – Triple Crown hopeful I’ll Have Another was reported to be doing well the morning after he arrived at Belmont Park by van and will soon begin training on the Belmont main track, according to Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill.

“He looks fantastic this morning,” said Sisterson. “He ate everything up last night and is a very happy horse. He walked the shedrow this morning. I have to speak with Doug, but it’s likely he will go to the main track at some point this week.”

Monday, May 21 2012

BELMONT PARK NOTES: Sunday, May 20, 2012

ELMONT, N.Y. – I’ll Have Another, who on June 9 will attempt to become the 12th horse to sweep the Triple Crown when he competes in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, arrived in barn 9 at Belmont Park at 2:53 p.m. Sunday after vanning north from Pimlico Race Course in Maryland.

“We got kind of held up for about an hour and a half,” said Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill. “I have no idea where we were, but besides that the horse was happy. He was just looking out the window the whole time. He and Lava Man were together, they were just chatting away the whole time. We were at Pimlico almost two weeks and we shipped in a week before at Churchill, and now we’re here for the three weeks. So far, so good. It’s kind of working out for us, so we’re not going to change that. I think the sooner he gets over the track and gets familiar with the surroundings..... We’ll walk him tomorrow and then take it from there. One day at a time.”

Friday, May 18 2012

BELMONT PARK NOTES: Friday, May 18, 2012

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Albertrani will have two opportunities to win a graded stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Memorial Day, May 28 as he will likely run Zo Impressive in the Grade 1 Acorn and Sahara Gold in the Grade 2 Sands Point.

Zo Impressive will enter the Acorn off a second, beaten 6 ½ lengths, to Grace Hall in the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 31. The Live Oak Plantation homebred will be cutting back in distance for the Acorn, a one-mile race around a single turn.

MASSIVE $319K PICK 6 CARRYOVER AT BELMONT PARK FRIDAY

ELMONT, N.Y. – Following upset victories by Beppj ($83.00, race 5) and Irish Lion ($102.50, race 8) on Thursday, Belmont Park will offer a three-day Pick 6 carryover of $319,939.89 on Friday’s card.

Race 8, a 1 1/8-mile optional claimer on turf, will serve as Friday’s featured race and the fifth leg of the Pick 6. A coupled entry from the barn of Bobby Ribaudo was installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite, with Hailstone entering the race off a second in the Grade 2 Pan American in March at Gulfstream Park and Eternal Ruler coming off a third at this level in April at Aqueduct Racetrack. They’ll face 5-2 second choice Belo Acteon, a Group 1 winner in Brazil who was third in his North American debut, an April allowance race at Keeneland.

TRICKMEISTER CONJURES FRONT-RUNNING VANLANDINGHAM STAKES SCORE OVER STAY THIRSTY

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trickmeister took the lead and never looked back Thursday afternoon at Belmont Park, defeating 2011 Travers winner Stay Thirsty in the $90,000 Vanlandingham overnight stakes.

Away sharply under Ramon Dominguez, Trickmeister led the field through an opening quarter-mile in 23.23 and a half in 45.72. Stay Thirsty, who had pressed the pacesetter though the first half-mile, dropped back briefly to third before rallying through the stretch to finish 1 ¾ lengths behind the winner. Trickmeister, who completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:39.86, returned $4.80 as the 7-5 second choice. His final time was .48 seconds off the track record of 1:39.38 set by Birdrun in 2009.

Thursday, May 17 2012

$114K TWO-DAY PICK 6 CARRYOVER AT BELMONT PARK THURSDAY

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wednesday’s Pick 6 at Belmont Park proved elusive, creating a two-day carryover into Thursday’s card.

The Pick 6, which spans the final six races, begins with race 4. Post time for the fourth race is 2:26 p.m.

NEW YORK-BRED VETERANS ASSEMBLE FOR AFFIRMED SUCCESS

ELMONT, N.Y. – Last-out stakes winners Saginaw, Law Enforcement, and Mine Over Matter will meet at Belmont Park on Saturday in the $100,000 Affirmed Success, a seven-furlong dash for New York-breds.

The 8-5 morning-line favorite is Saginaw, who has won four straight, including three since being claimed for $30,000 by David Jacobson, who owns the 6-year-old in partnership with Drawing Away Stable.

Wednesday, May 16 2012

SIZZLING MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND ON TAP AT BELMONT PARK

ELMONT, N.Y. – With four great live bands, a straw beach mat giveaway, a special appearance by racing legends Steve Cauthen and Jorge Velasquez and world-class stakes racing, the biggest beach party on Long Island is set for Memorial Day weekend at Belmont Park.

The festivities kick off on Saturday, May 26 as jockeys Cauthen and Velasquez autograph postcards to commemorate the unforgettable 1978 Triple Crown, won by Affirmed over archrival Alydar. With the 18-year-old Cauthen aboard, Affirmed beat Alydar by a mere head in the 1 ½-mile Belmont Stakes to become the 11th and most recent horse to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont, held this year on Saturday, June 9. The postcards will be given away free, with paid admission, at the park entrances. The autograph signing will be $5.00, with all proceeds to be donated to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys’ Fund.

Sunday, May 13 2012

MARK VALESKI GROWS UP IN G2 PETER PAN

ELMONT, N.Y. – After a pair of narrow defeats in Kentucky Derby prep races this spring at Fair Grounds Race Course, Mark Valeski earned his first graded stakes win Saturday afternoon at Belmont Park when he captured the 58th running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, the local springboard to the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Caught wide out of the gate, Mark Valeski settled well off the rail in midpack as longshot Right to Vote swiftly guided the field through opening fractions of 22.71 and 45.35. Swung four wide turning for home, Mark Valeski was put to a drive through the stretch, wresting the lead away from the pacesetter just past the eighth pole and going on to a 1 ¼-length victory. A determined Right to Vote held sway over Street Life, who closed from last to get third.

2011 TRAVERS WINNER STAY THIRSTY TO MAKE 4-YEAR-OLD DEBUT IN THURSDAY’S VANLANDINGHAM OVERNIGHT STAK

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mike Repole’s Stay Thirsty, who marked himself one of the leading 3-year-olds of 2011 in winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, will make his 4-year-old debut Thursday at Belmont Park in the 1 1/16-mile Vanlandingham overnight stakes, scheduled as the day’s third race with an approximate post of 1:54 p.m.

“He’s been training very well and we’ve kind of had a race around this time in mind for awhile, hopefully as a prep for the Suburban Handicap [Grade 2, $350,000 1 1/8 miles on July 7 at Belmont],” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “The main goal for the summer is the Whitney [Grade 1, $750,000, 1 1/8 miles on August 4 at Saratoga]. We’re happy to have him back.”

CURRENCY SWAP CASHES IN YOU AND I

ELMONT, N.Y. – With a measured victory in the $85,000, seven-furlong You and I stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park, Currency Swap showed the form that marked his 2011 juvenile campaign, which included a win in the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course.

Sent off as the 3-2 second choice behind even money favorite Hardened Wildcat, Currency Swap broke alertly from the outside post and was sent to the lead by jockey Rajiv Maragh for the run up the backstretch.

Saturday, May 12 2012

BELMONT PARK NOTES: Friday, May 11, 2012

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Larry Jones, who on Saturday will saddle Mark Valeski, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in Belmont’s Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes, revealed Friday that he will likely point Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can to Belmont Park’s Grade 1, $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes, run at 1 1/16-miles on June 23.

“Time between sure doesn’t hurt her,” Jones said. “She’s already raced four times [this year] and if we’re going to have her around come Breeders’ Cup time, we’ve got to kind of space her out a little bit. So, probably the Mother Goose, and the main objective now after we’ve got the Kentucky Oaks is the Alabama, but what we do to get her to the Alabama is the question. I’m going to say the Mother Goose, and then whether we do the Coaching Club Oaks or just go straight to the Alabama from there, we just have to see what happens.”