Mike Smith Day

On Belmont Day, Mike Smith and Bob Baffert teamed up to win four stakes victories.

West Coast won the Easy Goer Stakes, Abel Tasman the Acorn, American Anthem took the Woody Stephan’s, and Mor Spirit won the Met Mile. Smith said the he wanted to win the Met Mile for Holy Bull, who passed away at 26 this past week. After a disappointing Derby in 1994, Smith guided “the Bull” to a victory in the Met Mile that started a string of late season victories and a Horse of the Year award. Smith won the 2005 Derby on Giacomo (50 to 1) a son of Holy Bull

Darnley Stud ad for Holy Bull

Mike Smith and “The Bull”

Oh yeah, just for good measure Smith also won on Songbird for victory total of 5 on the day!

“Queen of the Turf” retires

During her 8 race win streak, she won three grade one/ group one stakes over the boys in three different countries. The Breeder Cup Turf Mile, The Queen Anne Stakes and the Woodbine Mile.

Have a great retirement and have a bunch of champion foals!

The Preps begin.

The  fifty point prep races for the Kentucky Derby began over the weekend. A win in one of these assures that horse a chance to enter the Derby. The three year old division is pretty much  “what have you done for me lately” at this time of the year. Horses that win recent preps become the current favorites, but these young horses are learning to race and the trainers are learning what the horse can do.

The two odds on favorites went down to defeat. Irish War Cry looked uninterested in the Fountain of Youth Stakes, finishing seventh and El Areeb got hung up in a speed duel and ended up third in the Gotham.

The horses will go back to the barns and the trainers will try to figure what went wrong.

Right now the most talked about three year old is a filly, Unique Bella. She has chalked up four straight wins, each at a little longer distance. There are no Derby points for filly races and if she ever races against the guys it will be somewhere way down the line, but she has been impressive none the less.