Horse Racing News

The Derby Trial has been a misnomer for many years, a Ben Jones-era throwback that Churchill Downs just never had the heart to toss in the dumpster.

Closing day at Keeneland on Friday turned into old-timers day, as Musketier, a relative youngster of 8, beat 9-year-old Brass Hat to take the Grade 2, $200,000 Elkhorn Stakes for long-distance grass runners.

The board of directors of the Breeders' Cup put off a decision to name future host sites for its two-day year-end event for 2011 and beyond at a board meeting on Thursday in Lexington, Ky., Breeders' Cup said in a release.

The best handicapping puzzle in the nation might be at Lone Star Park on Saturday.

With Ramon Dominguez away, Edgar Prado will play.

Blind Luck, the leading 3-year-old filly in California, worked six furlongs in 1:14.80 at Hollywood Park on Friday, her final workout before traveling to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Oaks, to be run next Friday.

Dual Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti has recently resumed galloping at Payson Park in south Florida and remains on target for the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park on June 5, trainer Christophe Clement said.

There is no arguing that D' Funnybone is talented. But trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. has another theory as to why D' Funnybone has won four consecutive Grade 2 sprints on dirt entering Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Withers at Aqueduct.

The filly Devil May Care, considered one of the leading contenders for the Kentucky Oaks on April 30, could be entered instead in the Kentucky Derby on May 1, a scenario her trainer, Todd Pletcher, termed "a possibility" on Tuesday morning.

Rafael Bejarano will ride Line of David in the Kentucky Derby, trainer John Sadler said Tuesday.