Trainer Jonathan Wong, a 26-year-old San Francisco native, earned his first victory Friday when heavily favored Pressure Time ran down Stretch Home and pulled away to a 2 1/4-length victory in a $3,200 claimer.
Harry Rosenblum, an investment banker based in Little Rock, Ark., is having a notable influence on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Far Right, a horse he owns in partnership, won Oaklawn’s first Arkansas Derby prep, the Smarty Jones, and War Story, a horse he sold this winter, ran second in the first Louisiana Derby prep at Fair Grounds, the Grade 3 Lecomte.
Texas Red, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita last November and a leading contender for the 2015 Triple Crown, was diagnosed with an abscess in his right front foot in the last week and will not train at Santa Anita for the remainder of February, trainer Keith Desormeaux said on Tuesday.
Beholder, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, worked three furlongs in 36.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Tuesday, her first major exercise of an expected springtime comeback.
Finnegans Wake has become the top turf distance runner in Southern California in the past three months, a status trainer Peter Miller is hoping to further enhance in coming weeks.
As of Tuesday, eight horses have been confirmed for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on the Tapeta synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields. The race offers 10 points toward the Kentucky Derby. Conquest Typhoon, a finalist for the Sovereign Award for Canada’s top 2-year-old male, will make his 3-year-old debut under Mike Smith in the El Camino Real.
The Equine Encore Performance at Charles Town retirement program reports it placed 54 Charles Town-based horses during its first year.
Filly and mare sprinters seldom get to run for $300,000, which is why the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park on Saturday is drawing runners from California, Florida, and New York. But one top contender won’t have to travel at all. Lady Sabelia has resided in trainer Robin Graham’s barn at Laurel since 2012. And while that may give her a slight edge Saturday, she has more going for her than just home-field advantage.
Trainer Chad Brown won three races over the weekend with 3-year-olds making their first start, but he said he is in no rush to push them along the Derby trail.
Agent Di Nozzo and Stachys would benefit if Thursday’s eighth race at Oaklawn Park has more pace than the race they both exit. Both were recently left chasing a gate-to-wire winner in Joy Boy.
