After Kinetic Sky ran a huge race, albeit in defeat, in June, trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. told owner Sandy Goldfarb he thought the horse could be good enough to win a stakes during the winter at Aqueduct.
Dutrow, who gave Kinetic Sky the summer off in hopes of achieving that goal, nearly proved prophetic when Kinetic Sky came within a neck of winning the Queens County Stakes on Dec. 31.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Conditions are made to order Saturday for Hot Peppers, the lone speed in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes for filly-mare sprinters at Santa Anita.
Just one problem. Her name is Three Witches.
Notwithstanding the pace advantage of her chief rival, Three Witches enters the seven-furlong Santa Monica as one of the most reliable favorites on the card, even if Hot Peppers figures to be loose on the lead.
It would not have been a surprise had Closing Remarks been retired at the end of 2023 after a wildly successful season that included four stakes wins.
Owner and breeder John Harris had other ideas, and has left Closing Remarks with trainer Carla Gaines for 2024.
The first objective is Saturday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita, a distance that well suits the 6-year-old Closing Remarks.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Though he has won stakes on turf and dirt, Noted has shown to be superior on the grass.
Coming off a narrow victory in the Pulpit Stakes here on Dec. 9, Noted will get a little more distance to work with when he kicks off his 3-year-old campaign in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Kitten’s Joy Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
The Kitten’s Joy is run at 1 1/16 miles whereas the Pulpit was run at 7 1/2 furlongs. Both races are contested around two turns.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Fierceness, runaway winner of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and near-unanimous choice as the year’s 2-year-old champion, will make his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut as the overwhelming favorite in Saturday’s $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – If the colt Nysos truly is the best 3-year-old in California, frustration may increase over an embargo that precludes his trainer from a certain race on the first Saturday in May.
Nysos faces a different challenge on the first Saturday in February. After winning two fast sprints by a combined margin of more than 20 lengths, the question for Nysos is whether he can make a successful transition to two turns. Trainer Bob Baffert believes he can.
Touchuponastar will put a perfect Delta Downs record on the line Saturday night, when he attempts to win his fifth race at the Vinton, La., track in the $150,000 Louisiana Premier Night Championship.
The 1 1/16-mile race for 4-year-olds and up anchors a card featuring six divisional stakes for Louisiana-breds. Free Like a Girl, who is the reigning Louisiana-bred of the year, is entered in the $125,000 Distaff.
Trainer Brad Cox hopes he has another Hit Show in the making in Lightline.
A year after using the Withers Stakes to get Hit Show to the Kentucky Derby, Cox will attempt to produce a sequel when he runs Lightline in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers at Aqueduct.
The Withers, since moving to this spot on the calendar in 2012, has produced 10 Derby starters, with Revolutionary’s third-place finish in 2013 the best showing. This year’s Withers offers its top five finishers qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) to the May 4 Derby.
Arrest Me Red hasn’t won since taking the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint in May 2022, among his five stakes victories on the turf. He has both pros and cons as he brings that back class in against a solid field, including last-out Turfway stakes winner Night Time, in Saturday night’s $125,000 Forego Stakes for older sprinters at Turfway Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Though they’ve been running in the same circles in Kentucky and Louisiana, Legalize and Risk It had to come to Florida to meet for the first time.
Legalize and Risk It, both in from Fair Grounds, head a field of 3-year-olds set to run seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park in Saturday’s $125,000 Swale Stakes, a race that has already lost one key contender.
