AT THE POST
DAY 27 OF 57
SUNDAY’S TOTAL HANDLE $3,460,205
SUNDAY’S ON-TRACK HANDLE $329,102
SUNDAY’S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $3,131,103
WEDNESDAY’S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Derby Lane (greyhounds), 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Gulfstream Park, noon; Wheeling (greyhounds), noon; Daytona Beach (greyhounds), 12:05 p.m. and 6:25 p.m.; Sam Houston, 12:20 p.m.; Fair Grounds, 12:30 p.m.; Penn National, 5 p.m.; Charles Town, 6 p.m. (NOTE Live racing resumes Thursday.)
SUNDAY’S STARS
There were no multiple winners among jockeys and trainers. However, Ricardo
Santana (31 victories in 151 starts), David Cohen, (27 victories in 149 starts), Joseph Talamo (22 victories in 119 starts),) Martin Garcia (21 victories in 121 starts) and Orlando Mojica (17 victories in 111 starts), the top five jockeys this season, all won one race.
Robertino Diodoro (32 victories in 104 starts) and Steve Asmussen (25 victories) in 137 starts), who are the top two trainers this year, also won once.
GOOGLE PLANS
Go Google Yourself is among 19 horses nominated to Saturday’s $350,000 Azeri Stakes but the multiple stakes winner is passing the race and pointing for Oaklawn’s biggest two-turn event for older fillies and mares, the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap April 18, trainer
Paul McGee said.
Go Google Yourself is 2 for 2 at Oaklawn, including the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes on Feb. 17 in her 2020 debut. McGee said Friday morning that Go Google Yourself is at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, her winter base, but she will ship to Churchill Downs in “two to three weeks” to continue preparations for the 1 1/16-mile Apple Blossom, one of the country’s most prestigious two-turn races for older fillies and mares.
“I’ll ship her from Churchill to Oaklawn, probably just a couple of days out,” McGee said.
Go Google Yourself has a 7-5-3 record from 19 lifetime starts and earnings of $639,625. The 5-year-old daughter of super sire Into Mischief won an allowance race last year at Oaklawn before claiming the $125,000 Groupie Doll Stakes Aug. 11 at Ellis Park and the $200,000 Locust Grove Stakes Sept. 14 at Churchill Downs. Go Google Yourself, in her final start last year, finished second to Mylady
Curlin in the $300,000 Falls City Stakes on Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.
“We’ve always kind of spaced her races out,” McGee said after Go Google Yourself’s neck victory over Whoa Nellie in the Bayakoa. “She’s always run well for us. The one and only time we wheeled her back on a two- or three-week layoff, she threw craps. So, ever since then, me and Samantha have said, ‘Let’s space her races out.’ ”
The Azeri is the final major local prep for the Apple Blossom. Early probables for the 1 1/16-mile Azeri, according to the Oaklawn racing department, are Awe
Emma for trainer Dallas Stewart, Lady Apple (Steve Asmussen), Mylady Curlin (Brad Cox), Serengeti Empress (Tom Amoss) and Street Band (Larry Jones).
Lady Apple, Serengeti Empress, Street Band and Mylady Curlin — all 4-yearolds – finished 1-2-3-4, respectively, in the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic Jan. 26 at Sam Houston. They were separated by a length at the wire in the 1 1/16-mile race.
Lady Apple is unbeaten at Oaklawn (3 for 3), including last year’s $500,000 Fantasy Stakes . Serengeti Empress won the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks last year at Churchill Downs. Street Band won the $1 million Cotillion Stakes last year at Parx. Whoa Nellie won the $100,000 Pippin Stakes Jan. 25 at Oaklawn in her 4-year-old and stakes debut.
Post positions for the three races will be drawn Wednesday.
DOUBLE LOADING
Oaklawn began double loading horses into the starting gate in mid-February, said Jed Doro, Oaklawn’s vice president of racing.
Doro cited faster loading times and safety as primary reasons behind the move. A typical loading sequence now, Doro said, has horses in post positions 1 and 7 loaded at the same time, followed by 2-8, 3-9, etc. Traditionally, Oaklawn had loaded horses – one at a time – in post position order.
“Mainly, it’s about safety,” Doro said. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas was among the Oaklawn-based trainers who applauded the move.
“That’s done all over the United States,” Lukas said. “I don’t see any reason why not to do it. It shortens the time horses stand in there. Probably lessens the opportunity for them to react or get somebody hurt. I like the whole situation better.”