Horse Racing News

Hibaayeb and Giants Play, the top two finishers in the Sheepshead Bay, will square off again in Grade 2, $150,000 New York Stakes for fillies and mares June 25 at Belmont Park.

Astrology will be the one to beat in the $250,000, Grade 3 Iowa Derby following his good third in the Preakness.

Led by undefeated Texas-bred Shocktime, a field of eight 2-year-old fillies was drawn for the Grade 3, $100,000 Debutante June 25 at Churchill Downs. It is the first graded race of 2011 for juvenile fillies.

Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty has been entered for Saturday's $150,000 Hollywood Oaks at Hollywood Park, days after trainer Bob Baffert removed her from consideration for Saturday's Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park because of a brief illness.

Grand Adventure, who captured the most lucrative win of his career in last year's King Edward Stakes, is back to defend his title in the one-mile turf event worth $250,000 at Woodbine June 25.

Saturday evening's concluding night of the Iowa Festival of Racing stages the Thoroughbred meet's trio of Grade 3 stakes -- the $200,000 Iowa Oaks, the $250,000 Iowa Derby, and the track's signature event, the $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.

Until a few days ago, the $250,000 Mother Goose (Grade 1) was shaping up to be one of the highlights of Belmont Park's spring/summer meet.

Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty will miss a start in Saturday's $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park after a brief illness earlier this week, trainer Bob Baffert said from Santa Anita on Tuesday.

An injury and key defections at the top of California turf mile division may lead trainer Mike Machowsky to start Caracortado in the $250,000 Shoemaker Mile on July 2.

Midway through Saturday's $250,000 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park, jockey Garrett Gomez glanced in front of him to check the margins between his mount, Blind Luck, and Switch, the 3-2 favorite.