HORSE RACING: DRYSDALE'S DERBY HOPES BEGINNING TO MULTIPLY.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer ARCADIA - The only time Neil Drysdale went to Churchill Downs with plans to start a horse in the Kentucky Derby, the colt named A.P. Indy bruised a hoof hoof, horny epidermal casing at the end of the digits of an ungulate (hoofed) mammal. In the even-toed ungulates, such as swine, deer, and cattle, the hoof is cloven; in the odd-toed ungulates, such as the horse and the rhinoceros, it is solid. and had to be scratched on the morning of the race. This time, Drysdale might be able to bring a spare. The English-born, Hollywood Park-based trainer, already polishing one Derby contender in San Rafael Stakes The San Rafael Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park, located in Arcadia, California. The race is a Grade II event with a purse of $150,000 and is open to three-year-olds willing to race one mile (8 furlongs) on the dirt. winner War Chant, displayed a second in the $250,000 San Felipe on Sunday when Fusaichi Pegasus turned back The Deputy and left Anees a rusty third at Santa Anita. Fusaichi Pegasus ($4.60), ridden confidently by Kent Desormeaux, won the 1 1/16-mile race by three-quarters of a length in 1:42.66 without being whipped, satisfying the curiosity a $4 million horse with bandages on all four ankles is bound to inspire. ``I haven't got there yet,'' Drysdale, with characteristic caution, said of the May 6 Kentucky Derby. ``When we go into the (starting) gate, we'll know we got there.'' But after becoming the first trainer to win the two major Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. preps with different horses, Drysdale can at least plot his path to Louisville. He said Irving and Marjorie Cowan's War Chant, 3 for 3 after leading the San Rafael gate to wire on March 4, will use the April 8 Santa Anita Derby as his steppingstone step·ping·stone n. 1. A stone that provides a place to step, as in crossing a stream. 2. An advantageous position for advancement toward a goal. to Churchill. Avoiding an intrabarn clash, Drysdale said Fusaichi Pegasus, owned by retired high-tech executive Fusao Sekiguchi of Tokyo, will go to the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct or the Blue Grass Stakes The Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is an American Grade 1 horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. at Keeneland. Both races are April 15. Fusaichi Pegasus, 3 for 4 after winning his first try at the stakes level, was bought at a Kentucky yearling yearling an animal in its second year of age, e.g. yearling cattle, yearling filly, yearling colt. yearling disease rinderpest in wildebeeste in the Serengheti. auction for $4 million. Drysdale said the four wraps are merely precautionary, ``because he's such a big,heavy horse.'' A.P. Indy cost $2.9 million. After Drysdale scratched him on Derby day, he went on to win the 1992 Belmont Stakes and the Horse of the Year title. Drysdale's failure to run a horse in the Derby is the glaring hole in a quarter-century career that has earned the 52-year-old a spot on the 1999 and 2000 Hall of Fame ballots. --Meanwhile, back east: California connections did well in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of too on Sunday as favored Red Bullet and jockey Alex Solis outfinished Bobby Frankel-trained Aptitude to win the $200,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct by a half-length. Red Bullet, owned by Santa Anita chairman Frank Stronach, is unbeaten in only three starts. --Notes: In a winner's-circle presentation ceremony, Mike Smith thanked his fellow jockeys for voting him the 50th George Woolf Award recipient, which annually honors a rider for his career and character . . . Wheelaway, the favorite, won the Tampa Bay Derby The Tampa Bay Derby is a race for Thoroughbred race horses held in March at Tampa Bay Downs. A Grade III event, the race is open to three-year-olds willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles (8.5 furlongs) on the dirt. . |
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