Skelly, the $1.7 million earner who was freshened following an uncharacteristic 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is now back in training, according to trainer Steve Asmussen.
“He just came back in,” Asmussen said. “He’s at the Fair Grounds.”
Skelly, now 6, is a six-time stakes winner for Red Lane Thoroughbreds.
Tiztastic is no stranger to winning rich races, with more than $900,000 in earnings just six starts into his career. It’s a bankroll that could grow substantially later this month, as he is under serious consideration for the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 22.
The Saudi Cup, with its $20 million purse, was created, at least in a strictly sporting sense, to bring together the leading middle-distance runners from around the world. While the enterprise hasn’t failed, the race’s last four winners – Senor Buscador, Panthalassa, Emblem Road, and Mishriff – hardly rate as global superstars.
But this winter, three weeks away from the sixth Saudi Cup, the race appears to be conforming to its creators’ vision.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Rated by Merit, the undefeated local 2-year-old sensation many had hoped to see competing in Kentucky Derby preps like the Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth this winter, remains sidelined indefinitely and is off the Derby trail, his trainer, Michael Yates, confirmed Friday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The well-traveled G T Five Hundred, coming off the two best speed figures of his 28-race career, looks well-spotted to remain in solid form when he heads a field of six entered Sunday in a starter allowance at Aqueduct.
The six-furlong race is open to horses who have started for a claiming price of $50,000 or less and have not won a race other than maiden or claiming. There is another starter allowance on the card with the same conditions, but that one is scheduled for one mile.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A runner-up finish to Banishing has proven to be a good credential this meet at Oaklawn Park, and it might make Wendelssohn the favorite in Sunday’s featured eighth race.
He is one of nine in the nonwinners-of-three lifetime allowance for 4-year-olds and up at six furlongs. Other key players include Nasty Habit, a full brother to Grade 3 winner Raise Cain; This Is Ucar, who owns a series of competitive Beyer Speed Figures; and Easy Action, a stakes-placed runner making his second start since October.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s the first live sale of the calendar year for Fasig-Tipton, but it’s actually the end of a season. Monday’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter sale is the final public auction of the mixed sale season, which began in October.
Peyton and Eli Manning go toe-to-toe Sunday, Feb. 9 in FanDuel Sportsbook’s Kick of Destiny 3 promo, and FanDuel users predicting the correct brother to win the field goal-kicking competition will collect a share of $10 million in bonus bets.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Bedard’s blossoming dirt form was one of the primary reasons he was purchased at auction late last year with the intention of running him at Oaklawn Park.
He goes in Monday’s eighth race, an entry-level allowance for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. A field of nine has signed on, including Mischelof, a Chilean-bred son of Into Mischief, and King Russell, the runner-up in the 2023 Arkansas Derby. The card was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but was transferred to Monday due to excessive rainfall.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The biggest lock Sunday at Santa Anita could be Tenma in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes, a dirt mile for 3-year-old fillies won by favorites eight of the last nine years.
Tenma, after all, is the class of the Las Virgenes with the highest figures. But can Tenma be as effective at Santa Anita as she is at Del Mar and Los Alamitos? Her worst start was her only start at Santa Anita, a distant third in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf last fall.
