Horse Racing News on April 13, 2011

Jockey Rafael Bejarano rode Malibu Pier to a victory in the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita last month but will ride the runner-up from that race, Turning Top, in Saturday's $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap.

When trainer Jim Hooper opted to run Inherit the Gold in the Grade 3 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct on April 2, he all but ruled out running the gelding back in the $1 million Charles Town Classic this Saturday.

Beaten Wood Memorial favorite Uncle Mo returned to the racetrack Wednesday, jogging once around a wet Belmont Park training track.

Trainer coming off best Lone Star Park season, pair of Breeders' Cup victories

Havre de Grace has matured into a more aggressive racehorse at 4. She defeated champion Blind Luck by more than three lengths last month in the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri at Oaklawn.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Court Vision, an earner of more than $2.6 million during his 26-race career, will open his six-year-old season as the horse to beat in Friday's Grade 1, $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile Stakes at Keeneland.

The Factor has been installed as the solid 7-5 favorite in the Arkansas Derby as 13 3-year-olds were entered for the $1 million race April 16.

A strong effort in the Blue Grass is still imperative for the Eddie Kenneally trainee as his graded earnings of slightly more than $240,000 is very close to the cut-off point to make the May 7 Run for the Roses.

Instead of being a fringe player in Arkansas, Evening Jewel will be in from California as a solid favorite Thursday at Keeneland in the Vinery Madison, a seven-furlong Polytrack race that carries the same Grade 1 rating as the $500,000 Apple Blossom.

Kentucky racing regulators denied a license to the controversial trainer Richard Dutrow on Wednesday, likely causing the scratch of two horses he has entered in stakes races at Keeneland and signaling that his career has begun to be imperiled.