Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Ivan Fallunovalot gets started
Ivan Fallunovalot is back in training. The stakes-winning sprinter was on the track for the first time since April on Tuesday at Lone Star Park, according to trainer Tom Howard.
Ivan Fallunovalot missed the Grade 3, $400,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap in April at Oaklawn due to a soft-tissue injury to his left hind leg. He rehabbed at an Arkansas farm and shipped to Lone Star on June 2.
Howard said the horse walked the shed row under tack upon his arrival at Lone Star but on Tuesday went out for a one-mile jog on the main track.
“Really, I should have taken him two,” joked Howard. “His attitude hasn’t changed. He’s come back, and he thinks he runs the show.”
Howard said in about 30 days, he will have a feel for when Ivan Fallunovalot might return to the races. The horse made his last start March 11 and was second to Whitmore in the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn.
“He’s doing real good,” said Howard.
Ivan Fallunovalot is a Grade 3 winner and an earner of more than $800,000 who races for Lewis Matthews Jr. He is part of a six-horse stable Howard brought in June 2, with the group also including Oaklawn stakes winner Will Munnings. More runners will join the barn this fall when Howard sets up shop at Remington Park.
Ivan Fallunovalot won Remington’s richest race for sprinters, the $150,000 David M. Vance, last September. The race will be renewed Sept. 24. Earlier in his career, Ivan Fallunovalot ran a troubled ninth in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Ivan Fallunovalot will be honored as the Texas Thoroughbred Association’s older horse of 2016 during a Saturday night banquet at Lone Star. He won all four of his starts last year, including the Grade 3 De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel. Ivan Fallunovalot was the Texas-bred of the Year in 2015.
Texas Chrome to Cornhusker
Texas Chrome, who will be honored as the 2016 Texas-bred of the Year during the Texas Thoroughbred Association’s annual banquet Saturday night at Lone Star, is now based at Prairie Meadows. The horse last raced at Churchill Downs, finishing second in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster.
“He came out of the race in good order,” trainer Allen Milligan said. “We moved him over to Iowa. We’re going to the Cornhusker.”
The Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap will be run July 8 at Prairie Meadows. Texas Chrome races for Keene Thoroughbreds. He had been based at Lone Star, where this meet he ran second in both the Grade 3, $200,000 Steve Sexton Mile and Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap.
Milligan, who recently became a private trainer for Keene Thoroughbreds, has divisions at Lone Star and Prairie Meadows.
Texas Chrome, an earner of $930,962, won last year’s Grade 3 Super Derby and Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby. The horse’s dam, Margarita Mistress, will be honored as the Texas Thoroughbred Association’s broodmare of the year Saturday. Texas Chrome, by Grasshopper, was bred by Craig Upham.
More Than Most retired
More Than Most, who will be honored as the Texas Thoroughbred Association’s champion 3-year-old filly of 2016, has been retired and bred to Super Saver, according to her connections. More Than Most last raced March 10 and was a 6 1/4-length winner of the $50,000 San Jacinto at Sam Houston.
More Than Most won five stakes races, scoring on both dirt and turf. She is a 4-yearold daughter of Indygo Mountain and retires with a record of eight wins from 17 starts for earnings of $272,464. More Than Most was bred by Clarence Scharbauer Jr. and races for his son Doug.
“She was great to us throughout her career,” said Bret Calhoun, who trained More Than Most.
Springboard Mile gets boost
Remington Park in Oklahoma City has boosted the purse of the Springboard Mile for 2-year-olds to $400,000, the track announced Tuesday. The race will be run Dec. 17. It is the co-richest offering of the meet that opens Aug. 25. The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at 1 1/8 miles is set for Sept. 24. Last year, the Springboard Mile was worth $300,000.
The Springboard Mile will be showcased on a card of five stakes that ends the meet. Other races on the card include the $100,000 Trapeze for 2-yearold fillies at a mile.
The Oklahoma Derby will anchor a card of 10 stakes. The $200,000 Remington Park Oaks at 1 1/16 miles and the $175,000 Governor’s Cup at 1 1/8 miles are among the offerings.
Oklahoma Classics Night, which features eight divisional stakes for Oklahoma-breds, is set for Oct. 20.
There will be 31 stakes at the meet.
◗ Bling On the Music, the Texas Thoroughbred Association’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2016, was sidelined by injury last year but is on the comeback trail with an eye to Oaklawn. “We’re bringing her along slowly,” said trainer Allen Milligan.
◗ Jockey Eguard Tejera is named on his first North American mounts since October 2014 in Friday night’s first and seventh races at Lone Star.