ARCADIA, Calif. - Tamara, a Grade 1 winner in 2023, recently underwent surgery to have a bone chip removed from a sesamoid, trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.
Tamara sustained the injury when she kicked a fence leaving the Santa Anita infield training track in late January. Initially, surgery was not scheduled, but the operation took place in late March.
“It was simple,” Mandella said. “Everything went well.
“She’ll be out for a couple of months and we’ll bring her back in.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Doug O’Neill reaches worldwide on Saturday, with three runners on the Dubai World Cup program in the United Arab Emirates and starters at Santa Anita on the Santa Anita Derby program.
“It’s super cool,” O’Neill reflected on Sunday.
In Dubai, O’Neill will start Katonah and Mixto in the $12 million Dubai World Cup at 1 1/4 miles, and Raging Torrent in the Group 2 Godolphin Mile.
At Santa Anita, the list of runners will include the cleverly named No Bad Beats in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, a $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles.
In trying to separate his bevy of 3-year-olds with hopes of getting to the Kentucky Derby, trainer Bob Baffert will send Rodriguez to Aqueduct in New York for Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial, this circuit’s fourth and final Kentucky Derby points-scoring race.
Rodriguez, third in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 1, will likely need a top-three finish in the Wood to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. The Wood awards qualifying points to the top five finishers in the field of 12 on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis. Rodriguez has 21.25 Derby points.
The Cal-Expo fair in Sacramento, Calif., will not hold a brief race meeting this summer, officials said last Friday.
The decision was widely expected and formalized after officials met.
Cal-Expo is the fourth Northern California fair to cancel live racing this year, preceded by county fairs in Fresno, Pleasanton, and Santa Rosa.
Trainer Jamie Ness and jockey Jaime Rodriguez ended Laurel Park’s winter meet with a flourish when 6-year-old mare Lady Zeta got the bob to win the final race on Sunday, giving Ness the trainer title and Rodriguez the rider crown.
It was the seventh time each has earned their respective title at Laurel.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Quietside emerged from her Saturday win in the Grade 2, $750,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park in excellent condition and will be based at Keeneland in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Oaks, trainer John Ortiz said Sunday.
Quietside will start as one of the chief contenders in the Kentucky Oaks after winning both the Fantasy – which produced last year’s Oaks winner in Thorpedo Anna – and the Honeybee, in which she defeated Gulfstream Oaks winner Five G.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Though Five G will be labeled one of the speed horses going into the Kentucky Oaks on May 2 at Churchill Downs, trainer George Weaver said he doesn’t view his filly as strictly a need-the-lead type.
Yes, she won Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks by 2 1/4 lengths in front-running fashion, but Weaver said that was just how the race came up.
Sunday’s eight-race Aqueduct card was canceled due to loud music blaring from a car and bike show held in the parking lot of the Resorts World Casino, next door to the track.
The noise from the event - held just on the other side of where the quarter pole stands - created potentially unsafe racing conditions for the horses and jockeys, according to a statement from Andrew Offerman, senior Vice President of Racing and Operations for the New York Racing Association.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Derby has produced more winners, 25, than any other Kentucky Derby prep. Trainers Brad Cox and Bill Mott hope that trend continues when their leading Derby candidates Tappan Street and Sovereignty meet again at Churchill Downs on May 3.
Louis C. Peck, a jockey and trainer of distinction at Fairmount Park and on the Midwestern racing circuit for several decades, died at the age of 82 in Fairfield, Ill., on March 28. The day of his death also marked the 62nd anniversary of his wedding to his wife, LaDonna.
