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Tom Law 
The Consignors and Commercial Breeders’ Association hosted its annual symposium at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion on a quiet and mild Monday evening and the featured event was a toast and roast of legendary Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
La Coronel emerged from the pack to post an easy win in Thursday’s $125,000 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland, putting owner John Oxley in rare company in the process.
Oaklawn Park and Arkansas Derby take center stage for 3-year-olds with Kentucky Derby dreams, while Keeneland hosts another strong card topped by the ultra-tough Grade 1 Jenny Wiley as April reaches its midpoint. We’ve got all that and more covered in this week’s Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud.
It’s difficult to imagine a more perfect weather scenario for a day of racing than what Central Kentucky served up Saturday afternoon at Keeneland Race Course, where a maiden named Irap delivered a massive upset in one of the premier Kentucky Derby prep races in front of a big crowd soaking up the blue skies, warm weather, loud cheers and big upsets.
Although the temperature read just 47 degrees when live racing action got underway Friday at Keeneland Race Course for the first time in 2017, there still appeared to be several thousand patrons on hand by the time announcer Kurt Becker came on to call the opener.
Three signature prep races that could produce nearly half of the field for next month’s Kentucky Derby headline a monster day of racing and they top this week’s jam-packed Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud.
Frequent Kentucky-based This Is Horse Racing contributor John Cox is on the scene at Keeneland Race Course for the opening of the spring meeting Friday and carved out some time this week to provide some handicapping insight for Day 1.
The action came fast and furious late March folded into April, with Triple Crown preps, Dubai World Cup, the start of the National Steeplechase Association season and New York Thoroughbred Breeders Annual Awards Dinner keeping everyone in our camp busy. We reported on all those events and more in recent weeks but as always we’re left with a little extra that didn’t make it in print or online.
Fresh off a victory in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen last month, Mind Your Biscuits was rewarded for his successful campaign last year during Monday evening’s New York Thoroughbred Breeders Annual Awards Banquet at Saratoga National Golf Club.
Honorable Duty needed every inch of 9 furlongs and the long Fair Grounds stretch to collect his third stakes victory – and second graded score – of the meeting in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap Saturday.
