ARCADIA, Calif. - Flightline, the undefeated 4-year-old, is galloping on a daily basis at Santa Anita and will soon begin workouts in preparation for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 3, trainer John Sadler said Sunday.
The $1 million Pacific Classic, the top annual race at Del Mar, is run at 1 1/4 miles on dirt. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 5.
Churchill Downs will conduct its planned closing weekend turf stakes on the grass course, but those will be the only races run on the turf this week, and the first since racing and training on the course were suspended several weeks ago.
The busy Saturday program at Churchill Downs includes three turf stakes, highlighted by the Grade 2, $350,000 Wise Dan for older runners. The card also includes the $200,000 American Derby and $200,000 Tepin for 3-year-olds. The following day, Churchill has scheduled the $160,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf.
Apprentice jockey Simon Camacho-Benitez and his mount, Moro Flyboy, both escaped serious injury in a first-race incident Friday night at Lone Star Park, according to the stewards.
Moro Flyboy was up by a clear margin in the stretch run of the $7,500 maiden claiming sprint for 3-year-olds and up bred in Texas when the horse veered in sharply, bounced off the rail, and lost his rider. The oncoming horses avoided Camacho-Benitez.
Following a spill in the second race at Emerald Downs on Friday jockeys Kevin Radke and Kassie Guglielmino appeared to have escaped serious injury, although Guglielmino did sustain a broken fibula.
Radke rode the remainder of the card.
The New Mexico attorney general’s office has issued an opinion that supports the state’s racing commission in a years-long fight with horsemen over the proper retention and distribution of subsidies from casinos.
A three-person panel appointed by the New York Racing Association to consider a hearing officer’s recommendation to ban Bob Baffert for two years has instead modified the recommendation to ban the Hall of Fame trainer at NYRA’s tracks through Jan. 25, “effective immediately,” according to a copy of the report distributed by NYRA on Thursday.
A hearing to consider an appeal by the trainer Bob Baffert of his 90-day suspension for the positive test by Medina Spirit in last year’s Kentucky Derby has been moved to Aug. 22, his lawyer confirmed on Thursday.
Baffert’s hearing before the full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission was scheduled to begin on Monday, but the two sides agreed to delay the start until Aug. 22 for “numerous reasons,” according to the attorney, Craig Robertson.
“Both parties agreed it needed to be moved,” Robertson said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 20-cent Rainbow pick six paid $6,656 to 493 ticketholders on Sunday’s closing day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, a program in which consecutive longshots made finding the successful sequence difficult.
The pick six began with a carryover of $330,680 from Saturday. Bettors added a robust $3,864,927.
The winners of the pick six races were Eleniak ($4.40), Breakpoint ($20.20), Standing O ($21.80), Patron d’Oro ($17.20), After Midnight ($15) and Hong Kong Harry ($6).
Eleniak and Hong Kong Harry were favored.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 20-cent Rainbow pick six has a mandatory payout on Sunday and begins with a carryover of $330,680 from Saturday.
The pool of new money bet on Sunday may surpass $3 million.
Sunday is the closing day of the winter-spring meeting that began on Dec. 26.
The pick six covers the final six races on an 11-race program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific. The first race of the pick six is the sixth race, which has a post time of 3:36 p.m.
The pick six races have fields of 9, 8, 12, 10, 10 and 10.
