Thu, 01/30/2025 - 14:38

Coastal Mission better than he appears in Toboggan

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Coastal Mission finished fourth in a Cigar Mile that was loaded with Grade 1 talent.

Go strictly by the numbers and you might not like Coastal Mission to win the $175,000 Toboggan Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct. Go by the names, however, and he stands a great chance.

Coastal Mission posted a modest 91 Beyer Speed Figure in his most recent start, a number seemingly too low to win the Toboggan. Yet that number came from Coastal Mission’s creditable fourth-place finish in the Cigar Mile, a Grade 2 race loaded with Grade 1 horses.

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 14:34

Millionaire Touchuponastar seeks three-peat in Louisiana Premier Championship

Hodges Photography
Touchuponastar will look for his third win in the Louisiana Premier Championship Thursday night at Delta Downs.

Touchuponastar will bring the new title of millionaire into Saturday night’s $150,000 Louisiana Premier Championship at Delta Downs.

The race is the richest of six divisional stakes for Louisiana-breds on an 11-race card that begins at 4:50 p.m. Central.

Touchuponastar won the Louisiana Champions Day Classic on Dec. 14 at Fair Grounds and with the victory hit the seven-figure mark in career earnings.

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 14:05

Endeavour, Tampa Bay draw loaded fields of stakes winners

Barbara D. Livingston
Breath Away, third in the Suwanee River last out, is a contender for Saturday's Endeavor at Tampa Bay Downs.

See You Around and Ocean Club both scratched out of last Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park hoping to find an easier spot in this Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Endeavour Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

While it may be easier, the Endeavour is not easy.

A field of 10 was entered for the 1 1/16-mile Endeavour, which along with the Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes, highlight a 10-race card that begins at 12:15 p.m.

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 13:53

Weekend GamePlan: Picks for Holy Bull, Robert B. Lewis, Withers

Burnham Square wins maiden at GP Dec 28 2024
Lauren King/Coglianese Photos
Burnham Square draws away to a nine-length maiden win in his third career start, and first with blinkers.

First Saturday in February. Let’s see – three months, evidently, to the first Saturday in May, Derby Day. Seems like a good time, despite short fields, to focus this week on 3-year-old stakes.

Holy Bull

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 13:40

Test Score looks for a better trip in Kitten's Joy

Coady Media
Needing a better trip, Test Score (right) returns in Saturday's Kitten's Joy at Gulfstream.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sitting in his office at the Palm Meadows training center earlier this week, trainer Graham Motion was reading the chart of last November’s Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar in which his horse, Test Score, finished second.

“Raced three deep in midpack early, bumped with inner rival at the three-eighths pole, bumped again at the five-sixteenths pole, remained three wide in the stretch, moved in, then back out,” Motion recited.

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 13:00

Benedetta looks to give Asmussen sixth American Beauty win

Coady Media
In the White Memorial, Benedetta earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 95, the best last-race number in the American Beauty.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The $150,000 American Beauty at Oaklawn Park is a race that has been known to go through the barn of Steve Asmussen. On Saturday, the trainer will be looking to win it for a sixth time when he saddles Benedetta.

She’s part of a field of seven that includes Grade 2 winner Taxed, who is making a rare start at one turn in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares, and the capable Chris Hartman-trained duo of Fibber and Tanya Showers.

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 12:40

Air Force Red will come out running in Thunder Road; $56,186 pick six carryover

Benoit Photo
Air Force Red will look to take them all the way in Saturday's Thunder Road at Santa Anita.

Air Force Red will set the pace in Saturday’s Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at one mile on turf at Santa Anita. Trainer Leonard Powell was adamant on Thursday that such an approach was the best strategy for Air Force Red.

“Some others have speed, but not our kind of speed,” Powell said. “I think people know if they go with us it would be a lose-lose for them.”

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 12:34

Forward Gal a key test for The Queens M G

Debra A. Roma
The Queens M G scored a pair of stakes wins at Saratoga this past summer.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Despite winning a pair of stakes during her 2-year-old campaign at Saratoga, there will be a degree of uncertainty when The Queens M G kicks off her 3-year-old season as the likely favorite Saturday at Gulfstream in the $165,000 Forward Gal. 

The Grade 3 fixture for 3-year-old fillies will be decided at seven furlongs and offers 42 qualifying points, to be awarded on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis, for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2.    

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 12:14

Holy Bull will speak volumes about Ferocious, Guns Loaded

Ferocious trains at GP Jan 30 2025
Barbara D. Livingston
Ferocious trains at Gulfstream Park on Thursday. He has only worked three times in the three months since the BC Juvenile.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There is no questioning the talent level Ferocious and Guns Loaded have shown to this point in their young careers, although both have questions to answer as the likely favorites Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $265,000 Holy Bull Stakes.

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 11:59

Baffert trio looks to give trainer seventh straight Lewis win

Debra A. Roma
Eclipse Award winner Citizen Bull will be no walkover in his 3-year-old debut on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s always exciting when a champion 2-year-old returns for his first start at age 3, but Eclipse Award winner Citizen Bull is no walkover Saturday at Santa Anita.

There is one virtual certainty, however: Trainer Bob Baffert is likely to score his seventh straight victory in the one-mile, Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis. It helps to have the best horses, as well as the most horses, and Baffert starts three: Citizen Bull, maiden route winner Rodriguez, and maiden sprint winner Madaket Road.