NEWS
By From Sun staff reports | July 30, 2009
Horse racing Draw for $1.25M Haskell, featuring 'Rachel,' is today The field for Sunday's 42nd running of the $1.25 million Grade I Haskell Invitational has started to assemble at Monmouth, and the race will be drawn on at 11:30 a.m. today. The Haskell draw can be seen live on the Monmouth Park website, www.monmouthpark.com. Already on the grounds are Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem, Long Branch Stakes winner Atomic Rain, Continental Mile stakes winner Bunker Hill and Iowa Derby winner Duke of Mischief.
NEWS
By Bill Ordine | January 29, 2009
In what is likely to be the most closely watched maiden race in recent thoroughbred history, Nicanor - the full brother of Barbaro - will get his first start Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. The 3-year-old dark bay - who has the same sire, Dynaformer, and dam, La Ville Rouge, as the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner - is in the eighth race, a one-miler on dirt with a field of 12. The timing of Nicanor's debut coincides with two Barbaro milestones....
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | May 15, 2008
The plane bringing Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown to the Preakness was idling on the runway in Louisville, Ky. Trainer Rick Dutrow was hanging on his cell phone, waiting for owner Mike Iavarone to give him the news. Where would Big Brown start in the 133rd Preakness? "He couldn't be happier now," Iavarone said. "He was convinced we were going to draw the No. 13 or the No. 1. When he heard it was the No. 7, he was delighted. It is the right spot. If no one wants to go for the lead, Big Brown can take the lead if he wants."
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | May 8, 2008
The Preakness added two new starters yesterday when connections for Recapturetheglory and Racecar Rhapsody told Pimlico racing officials they are headed for Baltimore. Recapturetheglory, owned by Ronnie Lamarque and Louis Roussel, will be the only Kentucky Derby competitor to take on Derby winner Big Brown in the May 17 race. It is only the third time in the past 59 years a Derby winner has gotten off so lightly. "We know that we belong," Lamarque said. "Big Brown is a bear, but we're not going to [the Preakness]
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | May 6, 2008
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Rick Dutrow is worried. Does anyone believe him? When he said his horse was the best of the Kentucky Derby field and everyone should bet him, the only ones who seemed to believe him were the bettors. Now, he says he can't promise Big Brown, his Derby winner, will run a great race May 17 in the Preakness Stakes. "We're going to hope and go and we'll see," he said. "But with just two weeks to prepare, I won't really know." It is a face unseen. The smiles are weaker. The "babes" on the end of his sentences fewer.
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | May 3, 2008
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The rumors were flying around the backstretch barns yesterday morning. Big Brown, the favorite for today's 134th Kentucky Derby, was having foot problems, and trainer Rick Dutrow was being slow to answer questions about the horse's feet. But over at the Dutrow barn, Big Brown was out in front of his stable having a bath. Looking unconcerned. And there beside him was Dutrow, showing his usual smiley face. "Have you checked his hooves today?" he was asked. "Of course," he said.
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | April 11, 2008
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- People are still bringing trainer Michael Matz photos of his late, 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, asking him for autographs. Almost every day someone asks him about Barbaro's little brother, Nicanor, who is in Ocala, Fla., being broken and will return to Matz late this month for his 2-year-old season. And Matz said yesterday that he still reflects on the horse that won so many hearts. "There was never a doubt about Barbaro's ability to go the Derby distance of 1 1/4 miles," Matz said.
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | October 27, 2007
OCEANPORT, N.J. -- As the trainers of the nine entries in the Breeders' Cup Classic hunkered down in their barns yesterday and looked out through fog and mist at a sloppy track, it seemed a cruel trick. For months, the weather has been warm and dry at Monmouth Park as the best horses in the country and the world built their cases for entry into today's Breeders' Cup races. And when the field for the $5 million Classic was set, it was described by many longtime observers as the best in the event's 23-year history.
NEWS
By Sandra McKee | June 9, 2007
BELMONT, N.Y. -- The last time a horse who was unraced as a 2-year-old won the Belmont Stakes was 1918. You can look it up. But Johren, who won that day, could have company by tonight if Curlin can stand up to the punishing, 1 1/2 -mile "Test of the Champion." Curlin's trainer, Steve Asmussen, took his colt to the main Belmont Park track at 6:30 a.m. yesterday for his last warm-up for the Grade I, $1 million endurance test. Then, with prayer beads attached, but hidden from view on his belt, he told a large crowd of reporters that he's taking nothing for granted.
NEWS
By Kent Baker | May 16, 2007
The owners of Circular Quay informed Pimlico Race Course officials yesterday that their horse will run in Saturday's Preakness, bringing the field to nine. Sixth in the Kentucky Derby, Circular Quay joins King of the Roxy as entrants to be saddled by trainer Todd Pletcher, who has started only one horse in a Preakness, Impeachment, the third-place finisher in 2000. Bloodstock agent Demi O'Byrne and owners Michael and Doreen Tabor made arrangements for Circular Quay, the Louisiana Derby winner and runner-up to Street Sense in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.