A report examining a cluster of fatal musculoskeletal injuries at Saratoga Race Course last year did not find any overt connections between the deaths but noted that an unusual number of the deaths were due to fetlock injuries and that many of the horses had higher rates of exercise than small numbers of control horses.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of potential candidates for next Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, Real Macho and Victory Avenue, got in their final major preps at Gulfstream Park on Friday morning.
The Rohan Crichton-trained Real Macho, who upset the odds-on Born Noble in a one-mile allowance race to kick off his 3-year-old season, open-galloped to the half mile pole before picking up the pace and ultimately completing his next seven furlongs in 1:28.68 seconds, the final three-eighths from the wire around the clubhouse turn, when sharply roused, in 38.20.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While trainer Bill Mott has some big shoes to fill in his barn this season with the retirement of Cody’s Wish and Elite Power, there is still plenty for the Hall of Fame horseman to smile at when looking down his shed row each morning at Payson Park. Not the least of that group is the reigning 2-year-old filly champion Just F Y I, who is slated to launch her 3-year-old campaign here next Saturday in the Grade 2 Davona Dale.
Jockey Ramon Vazquez, who is riding this winter at Oaklawn Park, is planning a move to New York this spring, according to his agent Bill Castle.
Vazquez has spent the last few years riding in Southern California where he was the leading rider at the 2022 Santa Anita fall meet. In 2023, he won his first Grade 1 stakes when he guided Practical Move to a win in the Santa Anita Derby.
Vazquez has won or shared five riding titles at Los Alamitos.
Entering Friday’s action, Vazquez was tied for sixth in the Oaklawn standings with 15 wins from 144 mounts.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jody’s Pride, runner-up to Just F Y I in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November, will make her 3-year-old debut in the $200,000 Busher Stakes in March at Aqueduct, her connections confirmed.
Jody’s Pride, trained by Jorge Abreu, was in Florida with the idea of returning in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park on the same day as the Busher. Her connections called an audible, however, and shipped her to New York last Monday. She was scheduled to have a workout over the weekend at Belmont Park.
Trainer Brad Cox could run as many as four horses in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes and three of those horses put in workouts Friday morning at Belmont.
Bergen, winner of the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes on Jan. 27, worked a half-mile by himself in 49.65 seconds.
“He was very rateable today. He wasn’t his normal rank, just wanting to blow through the breeze,” Dustin Dugas, Cox’s New York-based assistant, said. “He had a really nice gallop-out. I was happy with that.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Ain’t Life Grand will launch his 5-year-old season Sunday in an Oaklawn Park allowance race that also drew Grade 2 winner Silver Prospector and Grade 3 winner Great Escape.
The card also includes an appearance by Olivier, the full brother to Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Flightline who makes his two-turn debut in the race 8.
PHOENIX, Ariz. – She’s My Niece invades Turf Paradise from Southern California for her first stakes assignment, leading a field of six in Monday’s $60,000 Princess of Palms. The 6 1/2-furlong event for 3-year-old fillies goes as race 3 on the eight-race card.
For a filly who has not won a stakes, School Dance has had excellent form at times in two-turn turf races during the last 14 months.
Whether that success can translate to a win in her first career appearance in a turf sprint will be known after Sunday’s $100,000 Wishing Well Stakes for fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.
“We’ll experiment and see what she does going down the hill,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “She’s probably the class of the field, along with a few others.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Coming off a strong victory against winners in an allowance race last out, Doc Sullivan looms the horse to beat against five maiden winners in Sunday’s $100,000 Gander Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.
The Gander is run as a one-turn mile and that was the configuration at which Doc Sullivan scored a seven-length victory here Jan. 19, his third race in seven weeks. Trainer Mike Miceli said Doc Sullivan, a son of Solomini, handled that series of races in a relatively short span extremely well. He now has 37 days since his last race.
