The Grade 1-winning 8-year-old gelding Two Emmys was euthanized after breaking his leg during a workout Sunday morning at Fair Grounds.
Trainer and principal owner Hugh Robertson confirmed that Two Emmys had been put down after falling near the finish line at the end of his first timed workout since the gelding won the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes on Dec. 23, his first start since February.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., canceled Sunday's program after the first race to allow more time for maintenance on the racing surface, the track announced.
Oaklawn had “suspended” morning training after the break Sunday for “track maintenance purposes” and had pushed back first post about an hour. The first race went off without incident. The horses were waiting to be saddled for the second race when officials sent them back to the stable area.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ladies Stakes winner Comparative, like her Brad Cox-trained stablemate Drum Roll Please, will remain in New York and point to the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational on Feb. 10, Cox said.
The Heavenly Prize represents a turnback to a one-turn mile from 1 1/8 miles, but Comparative did win a second-level allowance going a mile on Nov. 25, her first start off a six-month layoff. Since Comparative has had only two races since the spring, Cox wants to keep her going until he finds a suitable graded stakes opportunity down the road.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Joey Freshwater, winner of last year’s Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes, made a smart-looking return to the races on Saturday, winning a second-level allowance by 1 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct.
It was Joey Freshwater’s first win since the Bay Shore and his first start since he finished last in a sprint stakes at Parx Racing on Aug. 22, the 10th start of his 3-year-old campaign.
“After we ran him at Parx I called up [owner] Steve Sigler and said ‘I’m not bringing him home, I’m dropping him off at the clinic,’ ” trainer Linda Rice said. “He’s getting a vacation."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Last year, trainer Brad Cox used the New York series of 3-year-old races to get Hit Show to the Triple Crown, where he finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby and dead-heated for fourth in the Belmont Stakes.
Along the way, at Aqueduct, Hit Show won the Grade 3 Withers and was beaten a nose by longshot Lord Miles in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial.
Bill Mott, a Hall of Famer now for decades, turned 70 last July. It is never too late to explore new places, and during 2023, Mott went somewhere he’d never been, his $17.43 million in stable earnings the highest mark of a long career.
Mott’s stable during 2022 racked up 26 graded stakes wins, the highest yearly figure of his career and a far cry from 2017 and 2018 when he won, respectively, nine and eight graded stakes. Things did not slow down in 2023, with 24 graded stakes wins, including 10 individual Grade 1 winners.
If Brad Cox is not named champion trainer of 2023, it will be largely because Cox has become a victim of his own success.
Cox has trained more than 200 winners the last seven years. His runners earned a staggering $30.9 million during 2023, more than Cox’s stable earnings of $23.8 million in 2022, less than the $31.7 million he reached in 2021. Cox won 30 graded stakes during 2023, the fourth straight year he has won 30 or more graded races.
Gone are the days when Chad Brown battled against the label of turf trainer. Brown has plenty of high-end horses for the main track now. Nonetheless, his bread and butter remains green.
Brown ranked sixth among American trainers in 2023 wins with 206. Narrow the standings to turf races, and Brown was the runaway leader, his 113 wins 21 more than Phil D’Amato’s second-leading total.
:: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
Jaime A. Torres wrapped up his riding apprenticeship in October, and the $4,255,679 in mount earnings he won with the bug last year is one of the central reasons he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2023.
The total ranked second among all North American-based apprentices in 2023, and it was achieved in less than a calendar year as Torres began riding as a journeyman on Oct. 15.
:: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
Sofia Vives is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2023 because of the wins and mount earnings she compiled while riding in Canada.
Vives, a 21-year-old native of South Carolina, ranked second in wins among North American-based apprentices last year, with 122 from 764 starts. She racked up $3,569,901 in mount earnings in 2023 to rank fourth in that category after wrapping up her season Dec. 17.
