{"id":8667,"date":"2026-04-12T18:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/apple-blossom-day-2026-recap-past-the-wire\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T18:28:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:28:40","slug":"apple-blossom-day-2026-recap-past-the-wire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/apple-blossom-day-2026-recap-past-the-wire\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Blossom Day 2026 Recap – Past The Wire"},"content":{"rendered":"

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April 12, 2026
Claret Berete dominates the Apple Blossom, Coady Media<\/em>
It was a happy homecoming for Miller Racing\u2019s Claret Beret, who scored a runaway victory in the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) before an estimated crowd of 40,000 Saturday at Oaklawn.
Providing jockey Micah Husbands with his first career Grade 1 victory, Claret Beret finished 4 \u00bd lengths ahead of Nitrogen in the 1 1\/16-mile Apple Blossom, one of the country\u2019s biggest two-turn events for older fillies and mares. It was 3 \u00be lengths farther back to third-place finisher Majestic Oops.
The Apple Blossom was a \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d for the $2 million Breeders\u2019 Cup Distaff (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
A forward factor from the start, Claret Beret moved to the lead with a three-wide move passing the three-eighths pole. Nitrogen, last year\u2019s champion 3-year-old filly, followed Claret Beret but trailed by roughly three lengths in the upper stretch. Claret Beret, well off the rail, wasn\u2019t threatened in the lane and completed 1 1\/16 miles over a fast track in a sharp 1:42.21. Nitrogen was the 4-5 favorite.
Claret Beret, a 5-year-old daughter of white-hot sire Not This Time, made three starts last season at Oaklawn, highlighted by an allowance victory in February. Claret Beret was sold privately following a fifth-place finish in an allowance race in March and transferred to Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. She was exiting a victory in the Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at 1 1\/16 miles Feb. 14 at Gulfstream Park.
Majestic Oops finished a length ahead of Regaled, who was followed, in order, by Om N Joy, Nerazurri, Blue Fire, Five G and Dazzling Move.
Claret Beret, an 8-1 shot, paid $19.60, $7 and $4.40. Nitrogen paid $2.60 and $2.10. Majestic Oops paid $3.40.
Racing\u2019s newest millionaire, Claret Beret ($1,115,834) has won seven of 19 starts overall. The Apple Blossom was her second career stakes victory.
Racing resumes Sunday at 12:45 p.m. (CDT).
Winning Jockey Micah Husbands (Claret Beret): <\/strong>\u201cI was loaded by the three-eighths (pole). I was just trying to be as patient (as possible) and not move too early. I was just loaded the whole way. When I asked her down the lane, she just finished it off. This has always been my dream, to ride in these kind of races and I\u2019m just thankful to be living in the dream.\u201d
Winning Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Via Phone (Claret Beret): <\/strong>\u201cShe backed up her last race (Feb. 14 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park). Just really proud of her. I thought Micah (Husbands) gave her a really good ride, too, so I\u2019m very proud of him, also. Her first race was big (after being privately purchased last spring) and then we got it wrong. Her first race was a one-turn mile and we kept her at seven-eighths. She didn\u2019t do good at Saratoga and then we were kind of creeping back into form. We ran decent in the Inside Information and thought we were back on track and then we started her in the Royal Delta, not knowing what to expect back at two turns. Once she won that, we realized that, \u2018Hey, we were wrong.\u2019 She needs to go two turns. Today, obviously, she justified that, that she\u2019s definitely much better at two turns.\u201d<\/strong>
Second-Place Jockey Jose Ortiz (Nitrogen): <\/strong>\u201cPretty clean trip out of the 1 hole. I saved ground around the first turn. I was very happy with the pace in front of me, as fast as they went. Approaching the three-eighths pole, I noticed the winner (Claret Beret) was moving better than the two horses inside, so I kind of went outside and followed her. But when Micah (Husbands) asked her, she took off and she found another gear approaching the three-sixteenths pole. It was really impressive. I felt like my filly was running, but I wasn\u2019t able to make up any ground.\u201d<\/strong>
Third Place Jockey Francisco Arrieta (Majestic Oops): <\/strong>\u201cI had a little bit of a complicated trip, between two of those big mares. I had to take a little hold before the half-mile pole, so I lost a little position. That cost me a little momentum, but she still ran huge against some really good fillies. She\u2019s a tiny filly with a big heart.\u201d
Mad House edged 2-1 favorite Roll On Big Joe by a half-length to win Saturday\u2019s six-furlong $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older horses.
Paco Lopez rode Mad House to his front-running victory for trainer David VanWinkle and owner James Thares. Roll On Big Joe, bidding for his fourth consecutive stakes victory, finished 2 \u00bc lengths ahead of late-running Dreaminblue in the seven-horse field. Defending champion Booth, Tejano Twist, Tough Catch and Wendelssohn completed the order of finish. Maximum Bourbon was scratched.
Mad House was tracked on the outside by Roll On Big Joe from the start. Mad House held a head lead through a :45.12 half-mile and maintained the same margin in midstretch. Mad House was inching away approaching the finish line and stopped the clock in 1:08.93. The track was fast.
Mad House, a 9-1 shot, paid $20.20, $8.60 and $5. Roll On Big Joe paid $4.20 and $2.80. Dreaminblue paid $3.20.
Mad House, a 4-year-old gelded son of Vekoma, raised his career earnings to $603,015 following his sixth victory from 12 starts. Mad House won the Gallant Bob Stakes (G2) Sept. 20 at Parx before finishing 14th<\/sup> in the $2 million Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Mad House was exiting an allowance victory in his 2026 debut, March 6 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Thares purchased Mad House for $47,000 at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in training.
Winning Jockey Paco Lopez (Mad House): <\/strong>\u201cGreat horse. It was fairly easy pace. Julien (Leparoux) pushed me a little bit, but my horse tried very hard. It was a very good job by the trainer (David VanWinkle) to give him time to mature. I told him this is a nice horse.\u201d
Winning Trainer David VanWinkle (Mad House):<\/strong> \u201cThere was a race we could have run in down at Tampa, but we thought we would try something a little bigger just to see where we\u2019re at with him. So, we decided to come here. I was getting a little nervous (in the stretch run), but I do know that when this horse, Mad House, is on the lead, he\u2019s tough to outrun and he made the lead today and made me feel comfortable for a while. But down the stretch, I was getting nervous. Roll On Big Joe is a very nice horse and Mad House prevailed, so I\u2019m very happy with him.\u201d
Second-Place Jockey Julien Leparoux (Roll On Big Joe): <\/strong>\u201cHe ran a good race. We had a good setup for us. He tried very hard in the stretch. Both horses really dug it. We just got beat.\u201d
Fourth-Place Jockey Erik Asmussen (Booth):<\/strong> \u201cHe was farther back than I wanted him to be. His game\u2019s to be the pace and didn\u2019t break good this time.\u201d
Fifth-Place Jockey Francisco Arrieta (Tejano Twist):<\/strong> \u201cHe didn\u2019t fire today. That\u2019s horse racing.<\/p>\n

Nice call on Journalism @jonathanstettin
January 22, 2026
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Facebook profile Twitter profile YouTube profile Instagram profile April 12, 2026Claret Berete dominates the Apple Blossom, Coady MediaIt was a happy homecoming for Miller Racing\u2019s Claret Beret, who scored a runaway victory in the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) before an estimated crowd of 40,000 Saturday at Oaklawn.Providing jockey Micah Husbands with his first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}