Let’s hope the San Antonio Staks at Santa Anita is a race where both California Chrome and Shared Belief get clean trips and hook up in the stretch, the outcome clear and convincing. And let’s hope this is the first of several meetings this year, with Bayern getting involved sooner rather than later.
Nearly a month into his retirement, Manny Tortora already is pretty bored. But at least he still has some of the earnings for which he worked his entire adult life in the racing business.
Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity, who is stabled on the West Coast with trainer Bob Baffert, may ship to Gulfstream Park for the Feb. 7 Donn Handicap.
Never Stop Looking was up late at 24-1 to win the six-furlong Fire Plug Stakes by a neck at Laurel Park on Jan. 3. Cutty Shark finished third at 6-1, beaten a half-length. On Friday, the pair will be rematched going an eighth of a mile farther.
Spanish Pipedream was so highly regarded by Wesley Ward that he sent her overseas last spring to compete in a Group 2 race at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in England. Unraced since a respectable fourth-place finish amid a field of 21 in that race, Spanish Pipedream resurfaces Friday at Gulfstream as the likely favorite in the only allowance of the day.
Derick Giwner's analysis of the Thursday 1/29 card at The Meadowlands.
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Thursday 1/29 card at Woodbine Harness.
Brewster Smith's analysis of the Thursday 1/29 card at Yonkers Raceway.
Fort Larned, winner of the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic, sired his first foal Jan. 26 when the Awesome Again mare Belvedera produced a bay colt at Calloway Stables in Murray, Ky.
After a year-over-year dip in November, all-sources average daily handle at Fair Grounds rebounded nicely in December and as of Jan. 1 was up 5 percent compared with a similar period in 2013.
