Oscar Performance ready to start up again

Trainer Brian Lynch reports that his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Oscar Performance is about ready to resume training for his 3-year-old campaign.

Oscar Performance capped his juvenile season with a 1 1/4-length victory in the Juvenile Turf, the last in a three-race winning streak that also included an easy six-length triumph in the Grade 3 Pilgrim at Belmont Park.

“He’ll have had 60 days off and looks sassy and happy and ready to get back under tack, for sure,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he’s also hoping to have four-time Grade 1 winner Private Zone back in training at Palm Meadows this winter. Private Zone, runner-up in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint when with trainer Jorge Navarro, has not started since finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint on July 9.

“He’s been doing some aqua-treading, getting legged up, and could be in here as soon as the middle of January,” said Lynch.

Lynch also trains Heart to Heart, who won the El Prado Stakes here Saturday.

◗ Jockey Martin Ramirez, who rode with limited success this summer and fall both here and at Gulfstream Park West, has taken on agent Gabriela Sanchez to handle his riding engagements for the winter meet. Ramirez has won nearly 1,400 races during his career, the majority at Fort Erie, where he’s been leading rider on numerous occasions.