This week in horse racing: Preakness auditions in focus
$28.1 million was bet at Keeneland for Blue Grass Day. Five stakes races are going off on Friday or Saturday. Keeneland’s Lexington Stakes and Laurel Park”s Federico Tesio Stake are important.
Joel Rosario, Flavien Prat, Irad Ortiz Jr. and Tyler Gaffalione are the top stakes jockeys.
Jackie's Warrior makes his seasonal return Saturday at Oaklawn Park. Laurel Park's program on Saturday features four stakes worth $500,000. Jockey Umberto Rispoli will shift his skills to the Kentucky circuit from Southern California this week. Sunday's schedule will be without Aqueduct, Keeneland, OakLawn and Laurel.
Friday's $600,000 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland features 11 turf milers. Smooth Like Strait is a benchmark for consistency with two wins and seven narrow defeats. Southern California-based warrior nearly went wire-to-wire in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard last year.
Kevin Roman, Jeiron Barbosa, Jose Alvarez, Vicente Del-Cid and Flavien Prat were America's hot jockeys last week.
Jeff Radosevich, Brett Brinkman, Larry Rivelli, Ronney Brown and Isai Gonzalez are America's hot trainers last week.
Xpressbet will have a pair of handicapping contests in the coming weeks. First, XpressBet provides an online satellite option to Keeneland’s $3,500 Grade One Gamble tournament on April 23. The month wraps with the April 29-30 Golden Gate Fields-Santa Anita Challenge.
