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Stronghold, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in 2024, will have a delayed start to his 2026 season. Trainer Phil D'Amato withdrew Stronghold from Sunday's Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita in favor of races at Keeneland or Oaklawn Park in coming weeks.
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Midwest stakes winner Express Kid will not be sent to California for Saturday's Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. “He spiked a little fever at feed time” on Sunday, trainer Justin Evans said on Monday morning from Sunland Park in New Mexico.
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The champion turf mare She Feels Pretty has been retired from racing with plans, if time allows, to breed her this spring. She's retired with a 13-8-3-2 record and earnings of $2.55 million.
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Veteran jockey Luca Panici, a mainstay on the South Florida circuit the last 16 years, announced his retirement following the conclusion of the Championship meet on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
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Trainer Chad Brown is closing in on 3,000 career wins and the horse who gave him his most recent, and career victory 2,995, is virtually certain to win again. On Sunday, when there were six Florida-bred stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, it was the Irish-bred 3-year-old filly Parfois who stole the show with an electric 6 1/4-length maiden victory in the day's last race.
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The Royal Palm meet at Gulfstream Park kicks off Thursday with a nine-race program topped by an entry-level allowance race restricted to 3-year-old Florida-breds at 5 1/2 furlongs over the synthetic Tapeta track. Stakes-placed Bronze Bullet is likely to go postward a slight favorite.
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Trainer David Fawkes was 35,000 feet in the air and still had eight hours left on his flight back to the United States when admitting Monday morning he was more than ready to get back home after spending the past 10 days in Dubai. The journey was part of a whirlwind couple of months for the locally based and now globe-trotting horseman, who journeyed twice to the Middle East this winter with his world-class turf sprinter Reef Runner.
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Three entrants in the field of 10 for Thursday's $75,000 Howard B. Noonan Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for Ohio-bred 3-year-olds at Mahoning Valley, ran in the Best of Ohio Juvenile on last October's state showcase program at this track. The strongest of that trio in this particular spot might be the one who finished worst of the group.
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The calendar flips to April and technically Thursday is the start of a new meet at Aqueduct, but little will change at least at the start of the 15-day spring session. One change bettors will get a glimpse of right away is the addition of Edgard Zayas to the New York jockey colony.
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Despite short fields, 3-year-old races Thursday might offer value. Race 5 is a Cal-bred maiden sprint in which the most likely winner might not be favored. Race 6, an entry-level allowance turf mile, includes a last-out maiden winner who can repeat if he continues to improve.
