The Week in Review

With the racing world gearing up for next Saturday's GI Belmont S. and a spectacular NYRA card that will include six Grade I races, the first weekend in June figured to be a sleepy one. But that wasn't necessarily the case as little Penn National had its moment in the spotlight with GII Penn Mile card and Santa Anita offered two Grade I races.

It was a weekend that showcased what's right about racing–there is an awful lot of purse money out there to be had. But you can also take the second half of that sentence and turn it around 180 degrees. There are not enough quality horses to fill all these races and there are too many races tripping over one another.

That was the case as Belmont's GIII Pennine Ridge S. went toe-to-toe with the Penn Mile. The two are essentially the same race, stakes events for 3-year-old males on the turf. The Pennine Ridge is a $200,000 nine-furlong race. The Penn Mile goes for $500,000 and is, of course, contested at a mile. The problem is that they are, essentially, the same race-grass events for 3-year-old males. It makes no sense to hold the two on the same day at racetracks that are, according to mapquest, a mere 182 miles apart.

Despite giving away $300,000 less than the Penn National race, the Pennine Ridge held its own as it was won by Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy), a Breeders' Cup winner. Trained by Brian Lynch, he won last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, yet seemed to be coming into the race in poor form. But that's not the point. Imagine if there were just one of these races and not two. It would have been a 12 or 13-horse race that included every top member of the division. In short, it would have been the type of race everybody wants these days, a good turf stakes races with a huge field.

The Pennine Ridge was invented to serve as a prep for the GI Belmont Derby. But get rid of the Pennine Ridge and the Belmont Derby would still have a prep–the Penn Mile. But that, of course, would require cooperation among two competing racetracks, which happens about as often as it snows in July.

Speaking of the Pennine Ridge, I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why they named a graded stakes race after a horse that never won beyond the Grade II level, was nine for 48 in his career and was last seen running in a $25,000 claiming race at the Meadowlands in 1998? His claim to fame is that he may be the worst horse in America to have a graded stakes race named after him.

Was History Made at Gulfstream?

You probably weren't paying attention to Saturday's second race at Gulfstream as it was a $20,000 maiden claimer. Too bad. Trainer Jerry Bozzo won the race with Cotton Tooyah (High Cotton). Bozzo is 96.

Look it up and you'll see reports that Noble Threewitt had held the record as the oldest trainer in the sport's history to win a race, something he did at age 95. That gives Bozzo the new record. The thing is, who really knows? Racing doesn't have a reliable database of records and there's every chance some 97-year-old trainer won a race in 1911 at Jamaica.

But we don't mean to rain on the nonagenarian's parade. Record or no record, winning a race at age 96 is a pretty cool feat. Bozzo last won a race on Oct. 18, 2015 and should be admired for how he has kept going and persevering at such an advanced age.

“I'm the last rose of summer left blooming alone,” Bozzo told the TDN, quoting the poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore, back when he was a youngster at 94.

It would be nice to see Bozzo's “big horse” get back into form. He is the owner, trainer and breeder of three-time stakes winner Flutterby (Congrats), who has made $350,633. She's zero for two this year, losing by a combined 50 lengths.

Here's hoping Bozzo wins a race at age 100.

A Stellar Performance

There's plenty wrong when any race comes up with just three horses, but, despite the minuscule field size, the GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita was definitely the race of the week and Stellar Wind (Curlin) was the star of the weekend.

If you are only going to get three horses in a race you might as well get three very good horses, and that's exactly what Santa Anita got for the race that used to be called the Vanity Mile.

The lineup was multiple Grade I winner Stellar Wind, the streaking Vale Dori (Arg) (Asiatic Boy {Arg}) and GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Finest City (City Zip).

With Finest City yanked off the pace by Mike Smith, the Beholder turned into a match race between Stellar Wind and Vale Dori, who was riding a six-race winning streak. Aboard Stellar Wind, Victor Espinoza rode a smart race. His filly broke a step slow, but he understood that if he let Vale Dori get loose on the lead the race was over. Espinoza made a brief, but aggressive, move get his mare within a half-length of Vale Dori. As good as Vale Dori is, Stellar Wind is better. She kept the pressure on Vale Dori and eased past her in the late stages to win by a neck.

Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) is still considered the queen of the older filly and mare division, and all eyes will be on her next week as she makes her 4-year-old debut in the GI Ogden Phipps at Belmont. But, thanks to Stellar Wind, Songbird's spot on top is tenuous. Stellar Wind is that good.

She's 2 for 2 this year, with both wins coming in Grade I events and she beat the mighty Beholder (Henny Hughes) last year in the GI Zenyatta. Let's hope that Stellar Wind and Songbird are on a collision course to meet somewhere.

Earlier on the Santa Anita card, Bal a Bali (Brz) (Put It Back) received a perfect ride to win a rich ($400,000) race, the GI Shoemaker Mile. The jockey was Mike Smith. Some things never change.

Some Things Never Change

The sun rose and Wesley Ward won a 2-year-old race over the weekend. A Don Alberto Stable homebred, Schianti (Distorted Humor) captured the sixth race at Monmouth Saturday. With Joe Bravo aboard in the $36,000 maiden special weight race, the filly won by three lengths. Ward has won 10 2-year-old maiden races already this year, and he's liable to show up anywhere. The wins have come at six different tracks, including such unlikely spots as Indiana Grand and Belterra Park.

“It's just something that comes naturally to me,” Ward said on this week's TDN podcast of his ability to win with so many juveniles so early in the year. I've been doing it since I was a little boy. Breaking horses when I was 12, 13, 14 years old. We put in a lot of long hours with these horses at the farm down in Florida…It's a process that I put them through. They have a lot of knowledge when I put them in their first race.”

Gulfstream is Always In Season

What the Stronach Group team has done at Gulfstream is remarkable. It used to be that once the “championship” meet at Gulfstream ended racing in South Florida fell off a cliff, especially when it came time to shift across town to Calder. No more. While June betting numbers at Gulfstream will never equal February betting numbers there, the handle at the late spring-summer meet at the Hallandale Beach, Florida track has been through the roof lately. Without even having a stakes races on the 12-race card Saturday, Gulfstream handled $8.16 million. They are firmly entrenched behind NYRA and Santa Anita as the third strongest simulcasting signal in the country this time of year. No one else comes close. The Gulfstream brand is a powerful one, even at this time of year.

And Back at Penn National

If not for a disqualification in Pennsylvania Governor's Cup, New York-based jockeys would have won all seven stakes races on Saturday's card at Penn National. Irad Ortiz Jr. was disqualified from first aboard Bold Thunder (Bold n' Flashy) in the turf sprint. Still, he won two stakes, while Javier Castellano won three and Luis Saez had a solo win.

Ortiz picked up the biggest win on the card guiding Frostmourne (Speightstown) to victory in the Penn Mile for Christophe Clement.