Sunday, April 03 2011

Blushing Dixie digs in for Fairway Fun win

FLORENCE, Ky., April 2, 2011 – Blushing Dixie fought Miss Luann the length of the stretch and wore her down, taking the $50,000 Fairway Fun Stakes by a neck at Turfway Park Saturday. La Gran Bailadora was third, another length and a half back.

Blushing Dixie broke from the inside under Shaun Bridgmohan, in to ride the five-year-old mare for trainer Steve Margolis.

Saturday, March 26 2011

King Congie out of Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes

FLORENCE, Ky., Mar. 26, 2011 - King Congie has been scratched from today's Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park. Terry Finley, president of owner West Point Thoroughbreds, said the colt strained a hind muscle during a gallop at Turfway yesterday morning. "He didn't cool out well," said Finley. "He's about 90 percent, but not 100 percent. We plan to come back in the Blue Grass or Lexington," noting upcoming stakes at Keeneland, Grade 1 and Grade 3 respectively.

"He still seems a little off in that left hind but he is much improved this morning," said trainer Tom Albertrani, "so he must have just tweaked something. But we decided to scratch to be cautious."

Karma Stables hopes karma holds for Son of Posse

FLORENCE, Ky., Mar. 25, 2011 – Karma Stables hopes to live up to its name in the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (G3) Saturday at Turfway Park. Their gelding Son of Posse is the longest shot on the morning line among the 12-horse field.

Son of Posse finished third in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes behind Positive Response, the Spiral Stakes 3-1 morning line favorite. “I think we have a good shot,” said Son of Posse’s trainer, Rhiannan Vitiello. “I don’t know if we can beat the favorite. My horse likes to stalk right behind and give a couple bursts of speed. I expect he will be laying third or fourth if he gets a good start and doesn’t get bumped around.”

Thursday, March 24 2011

Trainers weigh in on post positions for Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes

FLORENCE, Ky., Mar. 24, 2011 – The “luck of the draw” in racing matters—or not—depending on the length of the race, a jockey’s skill, a trainer’s confidence, and a horse’s running style and comfort zone. After yesterday’s post position draw for the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park Saturday, trainers weighed in on where luck landed them.

On the day following the draw, Positive Response’s trainer Billy Morey was in an upbeat mood. “The post is fine,” said Morey of his gelding’s assignment to post two in the full, 12-horse field.

Wednesday, March 23 2011

Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes awaits draw

Fields set for undercard stakes

FLORENCE, Ky., Mar. 23, 2011 – With the draw for the $500,000 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes scheduled for this evening, the field continues to hold steady at a dozen for the Grade 3 Kentucky Derby prep at Turfway Park this Saturday..

Purse too tempting for Brown to pass up

By his own admission, trainer Chad Brown has not always been certain of the best path for his Lemon Drop Kid three-year-old Beachcombing. Allowance races didn’t fill. Stakes races wound up with unsatisfactory course conditions. But Brown likes the potential offered by the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes and its generous $500,000 purse.

Tuesday, March 22 2011

Resourceful connections look to Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes

FLORENCE, Ky., Mar. 22, 2011 – Being a successful trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses over the long haul requires a remarkable resilience, an ability to be flexible and to look beyond the last race to the next one. Three of the trainers who hope to run horses in the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (G3) Saturday have recently called on that ancient wisdom.

Monday, March 21 2011

Gate should be full for Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes

FLORENCE, Ky., Mar. 21, 2011 – The field for the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park this Saturday has attracted an overflow crowd of hopefuls. Preference to run is determined first by graded stakes wins, then by stakes wins, and then by career earnings. Eighteen are reported to be pointing toward the race but only a dozen can start. Entries will be drawn Wednesday, March 23, at a cocktail reception in the Maker’s Mark VIP Tent at Turfway, 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 20 2011

Baryshnikov a stakes winner after Tejano Run at Turfway

FLORENCE, Ky., March 19, 2011 – Baryshnikov took his affinity for the Turfway Park track to the next level Saturday, winning the $50,000 Tejano Run Stakes to get his first stakes trophy. Stablemate and even-money favorite Dean’s Kitten was 1 3/4 lengths behind in second. Mint Chip was another half-length back in third, while Dynamite Bob stayed in for fourth, less than a length farther back and eight lengths clear of the next in line.

The win was Baryshnikov’s fourth in his last five starts, all coming at Turfway. He also has a second and three thirds on Turfway’s Polytrack surface.

Saturday, March 19 2011

Veteran rider Ouzts gets career win 5,600

FLORENCE, Ky., March 18, 2011 . . . Veteran rider Perry Ouzts, 56, earned career win number 5,600 Friday at Turfway Park, hustling fellow veteran Joe Six Pack, a 10-year-old gelding, to victory in the fourth race.

Ouzts currently ranks 18th among all riders by number of wins. Of those ahead of him on the list, only Russell Baze (1st), Ouzts’s cousin Earlie Fires (9th), Edgar Prado (11th), and Mario Pino (15th) are still active.

Old and new combine at Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes

FLORENCE, Ky., March 18, 2011 – The Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park next Saturday, March 26, blends tradition with new elements in its first year of sponsorship by Vinery Ltd. This year marks the 40th running of the Grade 3 race, which carries a $500,000 purse. The first-place share virtually guarantees the winner a spot in the Kentucky Derby (G1) gate.

The Maker’s Mark VIP Tent, sponsored since 2003 by premium bourbon distiller Maker’s Mark, is again the day’s premium venue, but guests in the massive tent will find a new, airier décor in soft blue and white. The tent seats about 1,800 and offers a deluxe buffet, premium open bar, live entertainment by the Greg Lee Trio, and a private viewing area. Returning favorites in the tent are the Maker’s Mark cake, deep chocolate generously flavored with Maker’s Mark and iced to resemble the bourbon maker’s famed red wax, and the Rube Goldberg-esque Maker’s Mark bar.

Sunday, March 13 2011

Smart ride, head win for Spring Party in the Wintergreen

FLORENCE, Ky., March 12, 2011 – A canny ride by Ben Creed helped Spring Party earn her first stakes win, the $50,000 Wintergreen Stakes at Turfway Park on Saturday. Coming into the stretch, the six-year-old mare raced all out for the wire and got home a head before the aggressively closing La Gran Bailadora. Hot Hot Mama was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third. Final time for the mile race was 1:39.99

War Tigress set the moderate pace, getting the first two quarters in :24.55 and :49.11. In the meantime, Spring Party had settled into fourth going into the first turn as La Gran Bailadora staked out her own position at the back of the field of nine older fillies and mares.

Sunday, February 20 2011

Max Silverhammer bangs out Dust Commander win

FLORENCE, Ky., Feb. 19, 2011 – Max Silverhammer banged out his first stakes win Saturday at Turfway Park, taking the $50,000 Dust Commander Stakes by three-quarters of a length over the fast-closing Wealth to Me. Baryshnikov was another length back in third. Final time for the one-mile Dust Commander was 1:40.09.

“[Trainer] Bill [Denzik Jr.] said if he breaks well, leave him there, but don’t take him back,” said winning jockey John McKee. “That’s exactly what I did. If you take him back, you’re asking him to do more than he’s supposed to. I let him break and he put me in the race right away, so I let him be comfortable right where he was. Turning for home I called on him and he was there.”