Hollywood Park: Two more races for Euroears before retirement

The Grade 1 sprinter Euroears will make two starts in coming months before going to stud at JEH Stallion Station in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, owner Jim Helzer said on Thursday.

Euroears finished last of nine in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, but won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in July. He is being pointed for the Vernon Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park on Saturday and the Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita in January before going to stud.

“We’re probably going to run him two more times,” Helzer said.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Euroears, a 7-year-old horse by Langfuhr, has won 10 of 21 starts and $1,043,894. Earlier this year, Euroears won the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes and was second to the multiple Group 1 winner Rocket Man in the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai in March.

“He’s had a good year,” Helzer said. “He had some bad racing luck in his last two starts. That’s part of the territory.”

Helzer said that Euroears will be marketed to both Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred breeders. He will have projected stud fees of $2,500 for Quarter Horse mares and $4,000 for Thoroughbreds.

“I think he’ll catch a bunch” of mares, Helzer said.

Gypsy’s Warning tops probables for Matriarch

Led by defending champion Gypsy’s Warning, Friday’s $250,000 Matriarch Stakes over a mile on turf is expected to draw a strong, and sizeable field, of fillies and mares.

Graham Motion trains Gypsy’s Warning, and plans to have three starters, including Summer Soiree, who won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August, and Unbridled Humor, who finished second in the Grade 3 Athenia Stakes at Belmont Park in October.

Never Retreat, the winner of the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland last month, is another expected starter. Trained by Chris Block, Never Retreat is expected to make her final career start in the Matriarch. A 6-year-old mare, Never Retreat has won five stakes this year at Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, and Woodbine.

The locally-based fillies are led by All Star Heart and City to City, the first two finishers in the Grade 2 Las Palmas Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 6, and the 3-year-old Up In Time, who won the Grade 3 Harold Ramser Stakes at Santa Anita last month.

The Matriarch is the first major stakes in the five-race Hollywood Turf Festival. Saturday’s program is led by the $250,000 Citation Handicap, a race expected to include Jeranimo, the winner of the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile at Santa Anita last month. Jeranimo was seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.

Mike Pender trains Jeranimo, as well as Ultimate Eagle, a supplemental nominee for Sunday’s $250,000 Hollywood Derby over 1 1/4 miles on turf.

Sadler adds top-shelf imports

Trainer John Sadler has added Group 1 winners from Australia and Ireland to his stable, with the intent of having them ready for the upcoming Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

Pressday, the winner of four group stakes in Australia in 2010 and 2011, is a candidate for turf stakes. The winner of the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes for 2-year-olds over a mile in June 2010 for previous trainer Chris Waller, Pressday finished 10th in a Group 2 handicap over seven furlongs in Australia in September, his most recent start.

Pathfork, the winner of the Group 1 National Stakes in Ireland in 2010, will race on turf or dirt early next year. Unraced since finishing seventh behind the unbeaten Frankel in the English 2000 Guineas in April, Pathfork, 3, worked three furlongs at Santa Anita last Monday.

“He’s a probable for the turf or the Strub series,” Sadler said.

The first leg of the Strub series is the $300,000 Malibu Stakes over seven furlongs on Dec. 26.

Previously trained by Jessica Harrington, Pathfork has won 3 of 4 starts.