NEW ORLEANS – West Coast Belle, undefeated in three starts and the winner of the Grade 2 Golden Rod in her most recent race, was credited with a half-mile work in 51.20 seconds at Fair Grounds on Wednesday, though trainer Wayne Catalano said West Coast Belle was not scheduled for an official work.
Run Hide My Girl and Parc Monceau will attempt to continue trainer Tom Amoss’s stakes success at Delta Downs on Friday night, when they start as two of the top choices in the $70,000 El Dorado.
If I were betting, I would bet on California Chrome for Horse of the Year. I think he is the most likely winner, given the makeup of the electorate and how that electorate has voted in the past. Bottom line, it was nice for all of us to have a voice in the debate, unlike what has happened to Steve Asmussen and the Racing Hall of Fame.
Give a horseman a choice between a talented early-season 3-year-old with size and scope and a more diminutive model, and – particularly with classic-race aspirations in mind – he probably will choose the big horse. But bigger is not always better. Young horses of large size need more time to grow into their frame, to figure out how their bodies work at peak speed.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Micromanage, who perhaps ran the best race of his career when he won the Queens County Stakes last month at Aqueduct, will run back in Monday’s $100,000 Jazil Stakes here, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Willet, who has won four New York-bred stakes, will try to win her first open stakes race when she takes on six rivals in Saturday’s $100,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct. Willet drew post 3 in a field of seven entered Wednesday.
Sam Houston Race Park opens Friday night with its biggest program of racing on the immediate horizon. The track will put on its Houston Ladies Classic card Jan. 24, with the $400,000 race for fillies and mares anchoring a program of four stakes that also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup.
Jockey Rajiv Maragh, who suffered a broken right arm when unseated from Wicked Strong during the running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup nearly four months ago, returns to the saddle Friday aboard the veteran turf specialist Sky Blazer in the afternoon’s featured ninth race.
Jerome Stakes winner El Kabeir is expected to return to the work tab this weekend and most likely will run in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 7, trainer John Terranova said Wednesday.
Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Tuesday at Golden Gate Fields, moving closer to a highly anticipated showdown with California Chrome in the $500,000 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 7.
