NFL Week 16 features a pair of Saturday games with the Houston Texans visiting the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Baltimore Ravens.
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More than 10 months after he finished second in the year’s first major stakes for 3-year-old Quarter Horses in California, the Los Alamitos Winter Derby, the gelding Ready for It is the fastest qualifier for the final such race of 2024, Sunday’s $157,400 Southern California Derby at Los Alamitos.
Similar to the Winter Derby, Ready for It may be overshadowed by a stablemate.
Born Noble was an eye-catching debut winner at Gulfstream Park 51 weeks ago, but as quickly as his star rose, it faded. Narrowly defeated in his second start in February and away from the races ever since, Born Noble returns Sunday in a first-level/optional $25,000 claiming race that highlights the 10-race Gulfstream Park card.
Remember the old days, when December meant Calder Race Course in Florida and awaiting the start of the big Gulfstream meeting and Oaklawn in the new year? The landscape looks entirely different today. And yet this is still the last Saturday before Christmas – a chance to pad that holiday bankroll.
Fort Lauderdale
I have quibbles with the Fort Lauderdale morning line, and here’s hoping my assessment proves more accurate.
The last time Saudi Crown raced at Fair Grounds, it was on the back of a 10th-placed finish in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic. You might think the pattern could not get worse, but it has. Saudi Crown headlines the $100,000 Tenacious Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, his first start since he finished 13th, beaten 58 lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
Spirit Wind will be looking to close a memorable year of racing Saturday when she faces 11 other fillies and mares in the $150,000 Poinsettia Stakes going 5 1/2 furlongs at Oaklawn Park.
The field includes six stakes winners, including Holly Dolly, who is attempting to win her sixth consecutive race.
Spirit Wind, who is cross-entered in the Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream Park, shipped into Oaklawn for the Poinsettia early in the week, according to her trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr. She is the class of the field Saturday as a Grade 2 winner who has earned nearly $650,000.
Copper Tax looks to place an exclamation point on a successful 2024 season when he goes favored in Saturday’s $100,000 Robert T. Manfuso for 3-year-olds and up racing 1 1/16 miles at Laurel.
Copper Tax is the deserving 125-pound highweight in the Manfuso, one of four stakes on the program. Unbeaten from four previous Laurel starts, the 3-year-old bested elders in last month’s Richard W. Small over muddy going. That win was Copper Tax’s fourth stakes score this year.
