Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Asmussen earns $50K bonus
Trainer Steve Asmussen won the Preakness weekend trainers’ bonus at Pimlico, taking down $50,000 of the $100,000 prize pool put up by the Maryland Jockey Club.
To be eligible for the bonus, a trainer had to start five horses in stakes at Pimlico last Friday and Saturday. The horses earned points on a 10-7-5-3 basis, with all horses getting an additional point for starting. The top six trainers shared in the bonus.
Asmussen ran nine horses in the 15 stakes held at Pimlico last Friday and Saturday. He won the Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff with Terra Promessa and the Grade 3 Miss Preakness with Vertical Oak on Friday and earned a total of 38 points over the two days.
Mark Casse, who had six stakes starters, finished second with 31 points and earned $25,000. Casse won the Grade 2 Dixie with World Approval and finished second, beaten a head, in the Preakness with Classic Empire.
Trainers Graham Motion, Todd Pletcher, and Tom Proctor tied for third with 25 points and each earned $7,666. Kiaran McLaughlin earned $2,000 for finishing sixth.
Motion won the Hilltop Stakes with Happy Mesa and the Sir Barton with No Mo Dough. Proctor won the Grade 3 Gallorette with Cambodia, and Pletcher won the Skipat with Clipthecouponannie.
Karamanos close to 2,000
Jockey Horacio Karamanos, who won three races on the Preakness card last Saturday, had 1,992 career victories as of Wednesday.
Karamanos, a 43-year-old native of Argentina, is having an excellent year, with 62 wins from 268 mounts, a win average of 23 percent. Karamanos is Linda Rice’s first-call rider in Maryland, and the pair has gone 38 for 82 this year, an amazing 46 percent win average.
Last Saturday, Karamanos won an optional-claiming race for Rice, a starter allowance for Mary Eppler, and the Chick Lang Stakes on Recruiting Ready for Horacio De Paz.
◗ Eppler, who won a race each day over Preakness weekend, said she is pointing her stable star, Page McKenney, to the $200,000 Mountainview Stakes at Penn National on the Grade 2 Penn Mile undercard June 3. The Mountainview is a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up.
McCarthy sidelined
Trevor McCarthy will be sidelined for an undetermined period of time after dislocating his left shoulder and breaking his right pinkie in a spill at Monmouth Park last Sunday. Antonio Gallardo, who was involved in the same spill, was not seriously hurt and plans to ride this weekend.
Pounds to Pennies, with Gallardo aboard, clipped heels and fell early in the 1 1/16-mile turf race. McCarthy was thrown awkwardly to the ground while his mount, Skip the Talk, avoided the fallen horse. The race was ruled a no-contest after an outrider waved horses to the outside part of the course for the stretch run and riders eased their mounts while McCarthy and Gallardo remained on the ground.
Doctors at the Monmouth Medical Center had to pop McCarthy’s shoulder back into place. He is wearing a sling and is scheduled to have his shoulder re-examined this weekend, according to his agent, Scott Silver.
Gallardo went to Monmouth Medical Center with pain in his neck and hand but emerged from the accident without any serious injuries.
“I feel good, strong,” Gallardo said Wednesday. “I was sore after the accident, but I am much better now. I plan to get on horses Thursday morning and ride this weekend.”
Laurel summer stakes
The Maryland Jockey Club has scheduled 21 stakes worth a total of $1.67 million for the Laurel Park summer meet. The 33-day stand begins June 9 and runs through Aug. 20.
Eight of the stakes are for Maryland-bred and/or Maryland-sired horses. Another eight are for Virginia-bred and/ or Virginia-sired runners.
The Virginia-restricted races are pending final approval by the Maryland Racing Commission.
The richest race of the season is the $100,000 Stormy Blues, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies on July 15. The other 20 stakes are each worth $75,000.
The June 24 card will have six stakes, four Virginia-restricted and two Maryland-restricted. The Aug. 5 card will have four more races for Virginia runners, and the Aug. 19 program will have four stakes for Maryland horses.
Fundraiser for riders at Parx
Parx Racing will host the fourth annual Jockey and Jeans fundraiser for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund on June 3.
Jockeys and Jeans, which in its first three years was held at Tampa Bay Downs, Indiana Grand, and Gulfstream Park, has raised more than $650,000 for the PDJF. This year’s goal is to raise $200,000.
A group of 17 Hall of Fame riders will attend the event, including Ramon Dominguez, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, and Julie Krone, who will attend the event for the first time. Krone is the only female rider in the Hall of Fame.
Others who will be on hand include Bill Boland, Chris McCarron, Pat Day, Earlie Fires, Sandy Hawley, Don Pierce, Laffit Pincay Jr., Edgar Prado, John Rotz, Bobby Ussery, Jorge Velasquez, Jacinto Vasquez, and Manuel Ycaza.
Tickets for the event are $40. A silent auction also is under way. For more information, go to Jockeysandjeans.com or call the organization’s president, Barry Pearl, at (717) 503-0182 or Eddie Donnally at (818) 653-3711.