Trainer Todd Pletcher said this week he is giving a tepid nod to New England in its epic battle with Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX. His level of interest, however, is minimal in comparison with what transpires a bit earlier with Zloty, one of 11 older fillies and mares in the lone allowance on the Sunday card, a $48,000, first-level turf race at 1 1/16 miles.
The longer the distance, the more class emerges – or so the theory goes. That means Unitarian or Reflecting should win the inaugural Allen Jerkens Stakes (race 9), and we’ll make them the keys in a late pick four (races 8-11).
Work All Week, the champion male sprinter of 2014, resumed training at a farm near Ocala, Fla., this week after some vacation time, according to his trainer, Roger Brueggemann.
Beginning next week there will be a new face to the races at the Meadowlands. The track elected last week to abandon the ABC classified system and will begin a new era with “money” conditions in February.
BreezeFigs Quick-Pix for Saturday, January 31st by Bob Fierro and Jay Kilgore.
The 2015 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. winter mixed sale closed Thursday with declines from a significantly smaller group of offerings.
Majestic Affair lived up to his 1-5 odds in the $100,000 Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes at Laurel Park on Thursday, winning easily under jockey Kendrick Carmouche.
The early demise of Summer Bird may yet prove regrettable. From his first start in March to his last in November, he never stopped improving, and had he not been injured, it seems highly likely that he would have been even better at 4.
Champion, classic winner, and classic sire Thunder Gulch has been pensioned at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky. The son of Gulch is 23.
Let’s say you’re a speed bettor – a handicapper who likes to play front-runners – and you’re analyzing the card at Fair Grounds. There are a few routes on the day, and you’re starting to zero in on your plays.
