Tamara will train straight to BC Juvenile Fillies, Mandella says
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ARCADIA, Calif. - Tamara, the undefeated leader of the 2-year-old filly division, will have her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.
Tamara won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Sept. 10 in her stakes debut, pulling away by a convincing 6 3/4 lengths. Mandella said a week after the race that Tamara was a candidate for the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 7, but has since changed his mind.
The BC Juvenile Fillies is run at 1 1/16 miles.
“I think I’ll wait for the Breeders’ Cup,” Mandella said.
“It was such a big effort the other day. I don’t want to run her another time and then come up empty at Breeders’ Cup time.
“She looks good, but they can turn on you.”
Owned by Spendthrift Farm, Tamara is by Bolt d’Oro and is out of the popular Hall of Fame mare Beholder, a four-time champion.
Mandella has Breeders’ Cup hopes with Geaux Rocket Ride in the Classic. Geaux Rocket Ride won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 22 to earn a fees-paid berth to the BC Classic.
More recently, Geaux Rocket Ride was second to Arabian Knight in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar on Sept. 2. The BC Classic is run at 1 1/4 miles.
Both Geaux Rocket Ride and Arabian Knight, who is trained by Bob Baffert, will have their next starts in the BC Classic and will not start in Saturday’s Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita, the final prep race in California.
Geaux Rocket Ride worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds on Sunday at Santa Anita, although Mandella timed the colt in a quicker 47.40.
On Oct. 1, Mandella plans to start Micro Share in the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita, a potential prep for the BC Distaff at 1 1/8 miles on Nov. 4.
Micro Share has won her last three starts, including the Tranquility Lake Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on Sept. 4. On Sunday at Santa Anita, Micro Share worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds.
Practical Move, unraced since a win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, was confirmed as on schedule for the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes after working five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Practical Move will be ridden by Ramon Vazquez, according to trainer Tim Yakteen. Vazquez rode Practical Move earlier in his career.
Owned by Pierre and Leslie Amestoy and Roger Beasley, Practical Move was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby on May 6 two days before the race because of illness. He had been rated as a leading contender.
Practical Move, who resumed training in the summer, is ready for his comeback in the Awesome Again Stakes, Yakteen said.
I think so,” Yakteen said. “As a trainer you always have a concern coming off the bench if your horse is fit enough.”
Palma employees suspended
Three grooms and an exercise rider employed by suspended California trainer Hector Palma recently tested positive for methamphetamine and/or amphetamine and have been suspended for 30 to 90 days, according to rulings published on Saturday by the Los Alamitos stewards.
Palma, 86, was provisionally suspended by the national Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit in late August after one of his starters at Del Mar in late July tested positive for the banned medication methamphetamine.
The positive was found in a post-race test taken from Baladi, the fourth-place finisher in a $32,000 claimer on July 30.
Palma said shortly after the penalty was announced that four of his employees had failed drug tests. Palma could face a fine and/or suspension for the positive found in Baladi.
In the rulings issues on Saturday by stewards Luis Jauregui, David Nuesch and Kim Sawyer, groom Robert Huerta was suspended 90 days, from Sunday through Dec. 22, while grooms Lionel Molina and Jose Gaitan and exercise rider Rigoberto Silva were suspended 30 days, from Sunday through Oct. 25.
All four were ordered to undergo counseling from the Winners Foundation, which aids people in California racing with substance-abuse issues, and to sign testing agreements with the California Horse Racing Board while in possession of racing licenses In the state.
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