Woodbine Harness: Thursday 1/22 Analysis
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Thursday 1/22 card at Woodbine Harness.
Garnet BarnsdaleJan 20, 2015
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Thursday 1/22 card at Woodbine Harness.
Grade 1 winner and sire Spring At Last has been purchased by H.H. Prince Sultan bin Mohammed Saud Al Kabeer and will stand in Saudi Arabia.
Jon Court has the mount on Take Charge Brandi in the $100,000 Martha Washington at Oaklawn on Jan. 31, trainer D. Wayn Lukas said Tuesday.
In response to 13 equine fatalities in the first 25 full cards – and two races of another program – over Aqueduct’s inner track, the New York Racing Association last Friday announced four new protocols it hopes will enhance safety. One of those protocols prohibits trainers from running a horse back within 14 days of its previous start.
Far Right’s win in the first 3-year-old prep on Oaklawn’s road to the Kentucky Derby delighted his trainer, Ron Moquett. Not only is he excited to have a promising horse in the barn, but the win in the $150,000 Smarty Jones on Monday came in Moquett’s home state of Arkansas.
Nothing appears to be amiss with Top Decile, who finished sixth as the even-money favorite in the Silverbulletday Stakes, or with West Coast Belle, who was fourth at odds of 2-1 in that race.
International Star was back at trainer Mike Maker’s barn in Florida looking no worse for the wear after successfully shipping to New Orleans, where he won the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte by 2 1/2 lengths Saturday at Fair Grounds.
Bryan Pettigrew, the head of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s group-purchasing program for the past three years, has been hired as the senior vice president for marketing and sponsorship at the Breeders’ Cup, the companies said Tuesday.
The bit of recency Ivan Fallunovalot has on fellow comebacking stakes winners Brewing, Hogy, and Jake Mo in Thursday’s eighth race might give him an edge in a competitive $50,000 optional claimer at six furlongs. He is one of five stakes winners in the field, with three of his chief rivals making their first starts since May.
It was one of those weekends for trainer Larry Jones. In the first race Sunday, Jan. 18, for maiden claimers, his starters ran one-two, and later on that card, 4-year-old The Sandman won his two-turn debut over first-level allowance foes by 7 3/4 lengths. Saturday had been even better. Jones sent out Hard Aces to win his first stakes in the $75,000 Louisiana Handicap, and a couple races later, trainee I’m a Chatterbox impressively won the listed Silverbulletday Stakes.