The team for trainer Phil D’Amato includes a Grade 3 stakes winner, an import who ran in France’s top race for 2-year-old fillies in October, and another import who beat males three times in Britain in 2023.
Zona Verde, Voodoo Magic, and Granny Budgie give D’Amato an extensive, and somewhat daunting, team for Sunday’s $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Booth will be out to build on the talent he showed last year when he launches his 3-year-old season in Sunday’s third race at Oaklawn Park.
He goes in a first-level allowance. The race for 3-year-olds will be run over six furlongs.
Booth’s six rivals include Let’s Go Mark, who is coming off a runner-up finish in the Turfway Park Prevue; Texas Town, an impressive debut winner Dec. 8; and Andy’s Candy, a stakes-placed runner who gets the services of Eclipse Award winner Axel Concepcion.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After sending out Hades to upset last week’s Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, what can trainer Joe Orseno do for an encore? How about coming back seven days later and doing it again with Eamonn, who figures to be one of the choices in Saturday’s $125,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, the main event on a 12-race program that kicks off at 12:10 p.m.
In coast-to-coast stakes handicapping Saturday, one finds oneself bouncing between the sparse and the inscrutable. If fields aren’t short, they’re riddled with difficult questions. Maybe we have some answers.
Sam F. Davis
The connections of Sibelius and Nakatomi are hoping Saturday’s $100,000 Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs is the start of a little rivalry in the male sprint division that leads both geldings to the Middle East.
A year ago, Sibelius won the Pelican Stakes, which led him to Dubai where he posted an upset victory in the $2 million Golden Shaheen at Meydan. Sibelius won the Pelican after winning the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream.
In 2022, Nest won the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs to kick off her 3-year-old campaign, one that would include three Grade 1 victories and end with an Eclipse Award.
Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole – the connections of Nest – will use Saturday’s $150,000 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa to kick off the 3-year-old campaign of Life Talk. Who knows where it could lead?
The Suncoast, run at a mile and 40-yards, offers its top five finishers qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) toward the May 3 Kentucky Oaks.
National Treasure, the brilliant winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park, is scheduled to have his next start in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 24 in Saudi Arabia.
Tom Ryan, racing manager of co-owner SF Racing, confirmed the plans Thursday.
Six days later than expected, multiple stakes winner Planetario begins his 2024 season in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita, a race that could be part of a busy February campaign.
A successful outing in the $100,000 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf could lead to a flight next week to Saudi Arabia for the $2.5 million Red Sea Handicap at 1 7/8 miles in that country on Feb. 24.
“That’s a big possibility,” trainer Richard Mandella said of a trip to the Middle East.
The first objective is the San Marcos Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After failing to sell at Keeneland’s horses of racing age sale in January, Saddle Up Jessie was put back into training by her connections and the 5-year-old mare is set to resume her racing career in Saturday’s $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct.
Saddle Up Jessie, whom owner Mike Ryan claimed back for $20,000 in January 2023, was in raging form with an allowance victory in November, a stakes victory in the Carousel on Dec. 23 at Laurel, and a narrow defeat to Comparative in the Ladies Stakes on Jan. 6 before heading to the auction ring.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sunshine is forecasted at Santa Anita on Saturday when racing resumes after a one-week interruption during record rainfall – 10 inches in Arcadia.
The weather has cleared, but the aftermath will continue on a Saturday card that includes three Grade 3 stakes. Although the race-8 San Marcos is scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on a saturated turf course, the effect of the storm also will be felt in two stakes on dirt.
