Tag: Apple Blossom Handicap

Champion sprinter Ce Ce returns to defend her title in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Invitational. THe 6-year-old mare is the 4/5 favorite to repeat. (Image: Gulfstream Park)

Ce Ce Returns to Princess Rooney Seeking Another Coronation

- 3 min read

The Grade 2 Princess Rooney Invitational played a key role in Ce Ce’s coronation as Champion Female Sprinter last year. And the marquee race on Gulfstream Park’s Summit of Speed card provides the perfect setting for the versatile mare to defend her title. Saturday’s $300K Princess Rooney is a seven-furlong […]

Letruska won her second consecutive Grade 1 Apple Blossom, making her only the fourth filly/mare to win the race multiple times. (Image: Coady Photography)

Letruska Emerges from Apple Blossom No. 2 in Familiar Territory

- 2 min read

This Letruska script is one we’ve seen before. After all, it bears a striking resemblance to the 2021 script for the powerful, now 6-year-old mare. Win Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. Head to Kentucky to train for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. Leave no mistake who […]

Azeri winner Ce Ce is the 2/1 second favorite in search of her second Apple Blossom Handicap in three years. (Image: Coady Photography)

Apple Blossom Blooms With Two Champions, Four Grade 1 Winners

- 3 min read

There are only five horses in Saturday’s Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, a statistic that trainer Rob Atras puts into perspective for everyone. “It’s a small field, but it’s got like a Breeders’ Cup kind of feel to it,” Atras told Oaklawn Park’s Jennifer Hoyt. That’s probably the […]

Oaklawn Park's 2021-22 stakes schedule consists of a record 36 stakes. Included is a revamping of its Kentucky Derby trail stops. (Image: Coady Photography)

Oaklawn Park Boosts Arkansas Derby Purse, Remakes Derby Prep Trail

- 3 min read

Oaklawn Park just shifted the landscape for the 2022 Kentucky Derby trail, boosting the purse for the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby to $1.25 million and moving the race up a week, to April 2, 2022. That moves the Arkansas Derby from its traditional spot as the last major Derby prep […]

The nose -- in this case, Letruska's -- knows victory. The mare held off champion Monomoy Girl by a nose to win the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap. It marked Letruska's first Grade 1 win in the US. (Image: Coady Photography)

New Distaff Star Letruska Basks in the Shine of Her Apple Blossom Upset

- 3 min read

Plans for horse racing’s newest female star – you know her as Letruska – remain fluid entering the week, less than 48 hours after the 5-year-old mare’s stirring Apple Blossom Handicap victory. ‘I think we’re going to take a little bit more time with her,” trainer Fausto Gutierrez told Oaklawn […]

Swiss Skydiver is the 2/1 second favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Monomoy Girl vs. Swiss Skydiver Brings Fans a Tasty Apple Blossom

- 4 min read

You could make a credible case the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park is the clubhouse leader for the best race of 2021. The reason you can make that case leads you to make cases for the two principals in Saturday’s Oaklawn headliner. Even-money favorite Monomoy Girl vs. […]

Ollie's Candy won her first three races and has finished in the money 10 times in 12 races. She goes for her second Grade 1 victory at Belmont Park Saturday in the Ogden Phipps. (Image: Santa Anita Park)

Ollie’s Candy Heads East in Search of a Sweet Trip in Ogden Phipps

- 3 min read

Instead of shipping her cross-country to Belmont Park for Saturday’s Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes, John Sadler could have run Ollie’s Candy on his home track at Santa Anita Park. The Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes was cozily sitting right there, like a ripe-for-the-picking peach. Plus, the Santa Maria came […]

Come Dancing, seen here blowing away the Distaff Stakes Field by 7 3/4 lengths last April, is the favorite for Saturday's Apple Blossom Handicap. It is her first two-turn race. (Image: NYRA)

Apple Blossom Handicap Blooms As Brightest Filly and Mare Race To Date

- 4 min read

This is the field quality you usually see racing in the Breeders’ Cup in November, not the Apple Blossom Handicap in April. Deep, talented, accomplished, versatile in terms of running styles – it’s all there. And it’s there at Oaklawn Park. The $600,000, Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap is typically […]