Led by a double-digit decline in handle on the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which was run as the seventh race on the Breeders’ Cup slate Saturday, rather than its traditional spot as last of nine, total handle on the 14 races held at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday dropped 8.9 compared to last year’s record handle, according to charts of the races.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Fierceness, dominant 6 1/4-length winner of Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, will likely take the same Florida path to the Kentucky Derby that his predecessor Forte did last year, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday.
Hopefully, the end result will be better.
Forte won the 2022 Juvenile to cap his 2-year-old championship campaign. At 3, Forte won the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park before a bruised foot knocked him out of the Kentucky Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bus Buzz and Mountain Bear, who suffered leg injuries in races at Santa Anita on Friday, are scheduled to undergo surgeries this weekend at Santa Anita, according to Jeff Blea, California’s equine medical director.
Mountain Bear, who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, was diagnosed with a lateral non-displaced condylar fracture, Blea said. An operation to stabilize the leg will be conducted on Saturday at the equine hospital on Santa Anita’s backstretch.
ARCADIA, Calif. — Pretty Mischievous, the leading 3-year-old filly in the country, has been scratched from Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff, trainer Brendan Walsh said Friday morning.
Walsh said Pretty Mischievous had a slight touch of colic when she first arrived from Kentucky at the beginning of the week. He said Pretty Mischievous was “dull” in her training.
The entry of “all other colts or geldings” in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager that closed on Thursday night was the 4-5 favorite, with Locked, the morning-line favorite in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the lowest-priced individual horse, at 14-1.
Offered six months prior to the May 4 Kentucky Derby, the “all others” entry was expected to attract the most interest in the parimutuel pool, which offered bettors 38 individual horses, plus the “all other colts and geldings” entry and an entry covering “all other fillies,” which closed at 61-1.
ARCADIA, Calif. -- As sturdy as the mountains overlooking Santa Anita, Kirstenbosch has a late-running puncher's chance in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint at seven furlongs.
A 4-year-old homebred filly by Midnight Lute owned by Keith Abrahams, the versatile Kirstenbosch has won at distances ranging from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles on dirt and turf, and is a Grade 3 winner both sprinting and around two turns.
Recently, however, it appears she found her niche as a closing sprinter that should relish seven furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – For all that he has accomplished in his native France and these days in Japan, jockey Christophe Lemaire is a rare sight at an American racetrack.
Lemaire has not won a race in this country since Flotilla in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita. He has had only four mounts on three racing days in the last 11 years on these shores.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Geaux Rocket Ride, the two-time stakes winner who underwent surgery to repair a displaced condylar fracture on Sunday, was euthanized Wednesday after failing to recover sufficiently from the operation, according to a statement released by owner Pin Oak Stud in late afternoon.
“It is with heavy hearts that we report that, at the recommendation of the medical team, Geaux Rocket Ride has finally reached peace,” the statement read, in part.
Santa Anita
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 54
Track: Fast
Turf: Firm
ARCADIA, Calif. – As odd as it may seem, a routine visit to the starting gate likely provided the biggest story during training hours Wednesday morning at Santa Anita, as Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro returned to the blocks for a second time after a less than encouraging experience there 48 hours earlier.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A high-profile group of breeders, trainers, owners, and other participants in racing have pledged a portion of their earnings from Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday in support of Stand Up to Jewish Hate, an organization devoted to raising awareness of anti-Semitism.
The group is led by Gary Barber and Aron Wellman, two of the sport’s high-profile owners. Barber’s pink silks are prevalent nationwide on horses in major stakes. Wellman is the president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, an ownership syndicate that races across the country.
