Line of David, who won this year’s Arkansas Derby (gr. I), has been retired from racing. He has been purchased by B. Wayne Hughes, who plans to stand the son of Lion Heart at his Spendthrift Farm near Lexington.
Mine that Bird, the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner for Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine, continued to work toward his first start of the year by breezing six furlongs in 1:13 over a fast Churchill Downs track June 22.
Goldikova started the 2010 Royal Ascot meet off with a performance befitting a queen, tenaciously holding off a charging Paco Boy to capture the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-I) by a neck June 15.
Canford Cliffs (orange silks) followed up his win in the Abu Dhabi Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-I) with a scintillating victory over a top class field in the St. James’s Palace Stakes (Eng-I) at Royal Ascot June 15.
Despite stumbling at the start, Equiano dominated the field and scorched home to win the King’s Stand Stakes (Eng-I) by 1 1/2 lengths June 15 at Royal Ascot. It was the second victory in the King’s Stand for Equiano, who also captured the race in 2008.
French raider Byword led a Khalid Abdullah one-two by holding off a charging Twice Over to take the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Eng-I) by a half-length at Royal Ascot June 16.
Australian import Starspangledbanner took the lead at the start and never looked back, rocketing home to win the Golden Jubilee Stakes (Eng-I) at Royal Ascot by 1 3/4 lengths over Society Rock. Kinsale King finished third.
Favored Paddy O'Prado, returning to the turf after a sixth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) last month, swept to an easy three-length win in the $500,000 Colonial Turf Cup (gr. IIT) June 19 at Colonial Downs.
Photo: COADY PHOTOGRAPHY
Odds-on favorite Jackson Bend, the third-place finisher of the Preakness (gr. I), tired badly after turning for home, as second choice Afleet Express swept to the lead and sailed to a 1 3/4-length win in the $200,000 Pegasus Stakes (gr. III) in the June 19 feature at Monmouth Park.
Photo: EQUI-PHOTO
Last at the top of the stretch, Charles Fipke’s homebred Lady Shakespeare rolled past all three rivals inside the sixteenth-pole en route to a 2 3/4-length victory in the $150,000 New York Stakes (gr. IIT) for fillies and mares June 19 at Belmont Park.