ARCADIA, Calif. – Mici’s Express won his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s $188,000 California Cup Derby for statebreds at Santa Anita.
But instead of being a prep for a challenging start in a graded stakes in coming weeks or months, Mici’s Express is going to the sidelines.
“I’ll turn him out for awhile,” trainer Steve Knapp said on Sunday. “He’s run hard enough. He deserves time off.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There are more than horses to handicap Sunday at Oaklawn Park, where Chrome Baby, Cosmo, and Pledgeofallegiance defend their home turf in a first-level allowance that drew Louisiana shipper Machine Gun Man.
There’s also the weather.
Forecasters are calling for a high of 27 degrees on Sunday, following an overnight low of 14, according to Accuweather. There is a 25 percent chance of precipitation. The forecast for Monday, which is a dark day, is for snow.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sweet Dani Girl, Time Passage, and Baby Steps are the speed and Charlie’s Wish the wild card in Sunday’s main event at Gulfstream Park, the $75,000 Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf. The headliner is restricted to Florida-breds and will be decided, weather permitting, at one mile on the grass.
My Mane Squeeze could be favored to beat seven other New York-bred 3-year-old fillies Sunday at Aqueduct in the $100,000 Franklin Square Stakes.
Four other horses, including one-two finishers Tricky Temper and Cara’s Time, exit the $100,000 Key Cents, a race in this division run Nov. 18.
Two other entrants won’t attract as much attention and ought to offer value in the Franklin Square, which is contested at 6 1/2 furlongs and open to be won by a relative longshot.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Wakanaka, a two-time stakes winner in 2022, was transferred to trainer Michael McCarthy last month with the intent of starting in races such as Sunday’s Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita.
The $100,000 Las Cienegas, for fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, plays to one of Wakanaka’s strengths. The 6-year-old mare is highly effective from off the pace as she showed with 2022 wins in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine and the Fall Harvest Stakes at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A draft of broodmares from Godolphin’s powerhouse operation added interest to the second half of the Keeneland January sale. The international outfit sold 17 mares out of its Kentucky broodmare band for a total of $1,103,000.
Godolphin’s renowned operation will seek to sweep the Eclipse Awards as outstanding breeder and owner for the third straight time when those awards are presented Jan. 25. This also was the third straight year Godolphin brought a contingent to Keeneland January, as it sold 26 mares in 2022 and 27 last year.
Calling this a light stakes Saturday probably is not quite strong enough language. The lone stakes at Oaklawn and Aqueduct came up with short fields lacking substance. The one at Gulfstream didn’t even make it onto the card. Book’em Danno is a somewhat interesting 3-year-old sprinter-miler type, but he’ll be no price in the Pasco at Tampa Bay Downs. Yet three races must be found for consideration. Here they come.
Unusual Heat Turf Classic
The New Jersey-bred gelding Book’em Danno was the best 2-year-old, New Jersey-bred or otherwise, at Monmouth Park last summer. He went to New York in the fall to win the Futurity Stakes and finish second in the Nashua Stakes.
Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, Book’em Danno makes his 3-year-old debut in the $125,000 Pasco Stakes, which includes $75,000 available exclusively to Florida-breds. And his connections are considering races much farther afield than the gulf coast of Florida.
When Wild Jewels won the minor Gold Rush Stakes by a half-length at Golden Gate Fields last month, trainer Steve Specht struggled to watch.
Specht wanted jockey Catalino Martinez to let Wild Jewels roll along in front with a clear lead in the gelding’s first race at a mile instead of racing with company. In the end, the tactics worked in favor of Wild Jewels, who will start at the slightly longer distance of 1 1/16 miles in Saturday’s $200,000 California Cup Derby at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Even if Kings River Knight is not a lock to win the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic, his role as favorite is fitting in the deepest of five California-bred stakes Saturday at Santa Anita.
“There’s some wayback California roots in this horse,” trainer John Sadler noted, referring to the gelding’s breeder, Old English Rancho, and pedigree.
