Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) winner Captain Steve will not be running against Horse of the Year Tiznow in the May 12 Pimlico Special (gr. I) as previously announced, trainer Bob Baffert said on Tuesday. "He looked so good when he came back from Dubai that I got a little ahead of myself pointing him for the race," Baffert said. "But he hasn't bounced back and doesn't look as good as I thought he was. I'm just not happy with the way he is right now. He's just not there."
Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) winner Captain Steve will not be running against Horse of the Year Tiznow in the May 12 Pimlico Special (gr. I) as previously announced, trainer Bob Baffert said on Tuesday. "He looked so good when he came back from Dubai that I got a little ahead of myself pointing him for the race," Baffert said. "But he hasn't bounced back and doesn't look as good as I thought he was. I'm just not happy with the way he is right now. He's just not there."
Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) winner Captain Steve will not be running against Horse of the Year Tiznow in the May 12 Pimlico Special (gr. I) as previously announced, trainer Bob Baffert said on Tuesday. "He looked so good when he came back from Dubai that I got a little ahead of myself pointing him for the race," Baffert said. "But he hasn't bounced back and doesn't look as good as I thought he was. I'm just not happy with the way he is right now. He's just not there."
After a slow start, Keeneland's April auction of 2-year-olds in training closed with a flurry of bidding Tuesday that helped establish sale records for both average price and median price. The 91 horses sold grossed $14,898,000 and averaged $163,714. The median was $125,000. Compared to a year ago, the number sold plunged by 26.0%, and the gross dropped by 19.5%. However, the average and median enjoyed increases of 8.8% and 19.0%, respectively.
Probable Derby favorite Point Given is scheduled to arrive at Churchill late Wednesday morning after working a quick half-mile at Santa Anita on Tuesday. The work in :46 4/5 was the fastest of the day for 26 horses working at the distance. Meanwhile, working at Churchill Downs on a brisk and windy morning Tuesday was Louisiana Derby (gr. II) winner Fifty Stars, who finished second in the Lone Star Derby in his most recent effort. With jockey Donnie Meche aboard for trainer Steve Asmussen, the colt breezed a half-mile in :50.
With about one hour remaining in Keeneland's April sale of 2-year-olds in training Tuesday, top price of $650,000 had been paid by Emanuel and Laura de Seroux's Narvick International for a Pleasant Colony colt consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables Inc. Three juveniles had fetched the co-second highest price of $400,000.
Bill Bork, the longtime racetrack executive who spent much of his time in Pennsylvania, where he even helped get old Pitt Park off the ground, will retire as president of Penn National Gaming in May. Richard Orbann, president of soon-to-close Garden State Park and a top official with Pennwood Racing, will take over for Bork.
Keeneland officials scratched two horses from the 2-year-olds in training sale Tuesday because of positive drug tests that showed up after the under tack shows.
In the absence of a dates agreement between three Thoroughbred tracks in South Florida, Hialeah Park chairman John Brunetti has proposed a year-round, three-track schedule, and said Hialeah would allow Calder Race Course and Gulfstream Park to have the first and second choices. There have been hints the current meet at historic Hialeah could be its last.
Fly So Free, who took over the top spot on the 2001 sire list following the victory by his son Captain Steve in the $6 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), still maintains a healthy lead over runner-up Phone Trick.
By Joe Riddell -- Are Thoroughbreds more unsound today than 50, 100, or 150 years ago? Most trainers will agree they are. There are many reasons, but the number one cause for this unsoundness is the way we are raising our young Thoroughbred athlete.
By Ray Paulick -- Fifteen years ago in the 112th running of the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), a 73-year-old trainer put a 54-year-old jockey up on a 3-year-old colt named Ferdinand, and something magical happened. Now Laffit Pincay, like Shoemaker in 1986, is 54 years old, and standing in the twilight of a Hall of Fame career. Can he pull a rabbit out of his hat under the Twin Spires this May 5?
Introduced by Assemblyman Herb Wesson, AB856 establishes guidelines for unionizing backstretch workers and mandates better living and working conditions at the state's racetracks and training facilities. Wesson, who chairs the Assembly's Governmental Organization committee, brought the bill before that panel for its first public hearing. The bill passed on to the Assembly's Labor Committee.
A "hot" catalogue and a wintry Australian exchange rate ($1 Australian equals U.S. $.51) assisted indicator increases on the first day of trading at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale, conducted at Sydney's Newmarket sale ring April 17.
With odds-on favorite Malabar Gold fading to finish out of the money, there were some larger than usual show prices for Monday's San Simeon Handicap, the Santa Anita Park closing-day feature won by Lake William. In the other stakes on the program, Starrer posted her first career victory in the Santa Paula Stakes on the program.
Racing in the Republic of Ireland resumed Monday at Leopardstown and Cork after a 50-day shutdown. The move came despite confirmation of a third outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease across the border in Northern Ireland.
An abnormally large amount of rainfall for the second season in a row resulted in slight declines in attendance and wagering at Santa Anita Park. The Southern California track reported the meet that concluded Monday had average daily handle (all sources) of $11,101,384, down 3.2 percent from last year.
