ARCADIA, Calif. – As old as they are, Gary Stevens and Mike Smith are supposed to be a little bitter by now, reminding folks of their former glories while complaining of how they’re being unfairly snubbed while the younger guys get legged up on the better horses.
Hah.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Graydar, who likely would have been the favorite in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Friday, was declared out of the race Monday because of a quarter crack in his left front hoof, according to a press release from Twin Creeks Racing Stables, which owns the 4-year-old colt.
The injury is believed to be minor enough to allow Graydar to run in the Grade 1, $500,000 Cigar Mile on Nov. 30 at Aqueduct, trainer Todd Pletcher said in the release.
Fort Larned, seeking to defend his title in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita, worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 on Monday at Churchill Downs, his final prep for the race.
Brian Hernandez Jr., the regular rider for Fort Larned, was aboard. The horse worked by himself.
"Everything's good. It was a nice work," said Ian Wilkes, who trains Fort Larned. "He came back happy. He wanted to do more."
ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup race week at Santa Anita begins Thursday with a two-day pick six carryover of $439,663.
The carryover was announced after 8-1 Bio Pro won Sunday’s eighth race. With a three-day break between racing days, the pool of new money could surpass $2 million on Thursday.
There are eight races Thursday, with the pick six covering the third through eighth.
Trainer Eric Reed posted the 1,000th victory of his training career Sunday when longshot Itsyesornoihavtogo captured the first race at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Ill.
Itsyesornoihavtogo, a 3-year-old filly by More Than Ready, races in the name of Reed’s wife, Kay. She paid $95.80 in winning the one-mile turf race over her Reed-trained stablemate, Marvelous Marcy.
Reed, 49, is a Lexington, Ky., native who began training in 1985. His father, Herbert Reed, trained for 40 years after being an understudy to the legendary Mack Miller.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Arpinati, the Italian 2-year-old pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, did not travel with the international shipping contingent and is out of the race.
Arpinati was reportedly to have been sold and race for new connections in the Juvenile Turf, but the transaction fell through, and his trip was abandoned.
Diamond Bachelor, Dance With Fate, Smarty’s Echo, and We Miss Artie all are pre-entered with first preference in the Juvenile, leaving the Juvenile Turf with a prospective field of 13.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A group of 12 foreign-based runners for Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita next weekend arrived in Southern California on Saturday.
The runners – 11 Thoroughbreds and one Arabian – remained in quarantine Sunday.
Three Thoroughbreds will clear quarantine in time to train Monday – Outstrip (a candidate for the Juvenile Turf), Vorda (Juvenile Fillies Turf), and Romantica (Filly and Mare Turf). The Arabian No Problem Al Maury will train Monday for Friday’s $150,000 President of the United Arab Emirates Cup. They arrived on a flight early Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Julien Leparoux will relocate from Southern California to ride in Kentucky and Florida in the coming months, he said Sunday.
Leparoux plans to ride at Santa Anita through the end of the meeting next Sunday. His first day of riding at Churchill Downs will be Wednesday, Nov. 6. Leparoux plans to ride through that track’s autumn meeting, which ends Nov. 30, before moving to Gulfstream Park.
“I just want to come back to the East Coast,” he said of the decision.
ARCADIA, Calif. - There is a pick six carryover of $88,698 at Santa Anita on Sunday.
A win by 3-1 favorite Acute in Saturday’s ninth clinched the carryover. Acute outran 5-1 Swiss Bliss, who was covered in the pick six.
Sunday’s pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a nine-race program. Post time is 1 p.m. Pacific with the first pick six race due off at 2:37 p.m.
There were early scratches on Saturday in two of Sunday’s pick six races.
