Works, entries, and results for the Midlantic-breds nominated to the Triple Crown. The latest:
Defondo, the lone Midlantic-bred to test the graded prep waters last weekend, didn’t fare particularly well. Then again, neither did two other Midlantic-bred Triple Crown nominees who were in action.
Defondo, a Virginia-bred trained by Dallas Stewart and bred by Mr. & Mrs. Bertram R. Firestone, was, at 47-1, the second-longest shot on the board in Saturday’s Grade 2 Louisiana Derby; that turned out to be about right. Last early, Defondo, under Brian Hernandez, Jr., was never much involved and finished seventh of the nine runners. He was beaten 14 lengths.
Ghost Bay, the Maryland-bred who had broken his maiden in December in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity, made his return to the races on Saturday at Laurel Park, in a first-level allowance. Bred by Howard Bender and trained by Larry Murray, Ghost Bay had secured that maiden win by rallying from last after a troubled trip to burst clear in the lane. Saturday, he uncharacteristically was up on the pace early, between horses and dueling for the lead under Forest Boyce. That worked for about three-quarters of a mile before he tired and backed out. He ended up fifth, beaten 12 lengths.
Virginia-bred River Date was also in action Saturday, attempting for the fourth time to break his maiden; no dice. The son of Pioneerof the Nile bred by Henry L. Carroll and trained by David Cannizzo finished a well-beaten fifth of 12 in a maiden special weight event on the Gulfstream Park turf.
Four Midlantic-breds nominated to the Triple Crown were on the work tab in recent days:
[su_list icon=”icon: clipboard”]- On March 31, a pair of Pennsylvania-breds, Nasa and Ruby’s Love, both worked, the former going five furlongs at Parx Racing and the latter, four furlongs at Fair Hill; and
- On March 30, Maryland-bred Balfe’s Corner worked five furlongs over the Belmont training track, while Pennsylvania-bred Refer worked four over the same surface. The latter zipped the distance in 48 seconds flat, third fastest of 96 at the distance.
And don’t forget to check out our Mid-Atlantic Triple Crown Trail page, featuring a sortable (and searchable) table of all of this year’s Midlantic-bred Triple Crown nominees.
