The 3-year-olds Valence and Alotaluck have been career-defining runners for trainer Ty Garrett in 2024.
A stable that typically races at venues in states such as Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico is trying something new this week.
Valence is entered in Thursday’s Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita, the first start at the historic track for the 47-year-old Garrett. Valence has already given Garrett his richest win in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks in New Mexico on Nov. 26.
Easter, the 6-year-old gelding, is winless in five starts this year, yet still the subject of high expectations for Thursday’s Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita – and into 2025.
Easter, who has been second once this year, won the $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf last December, his most recent win. In his last start, Easter overcame slight trouble on the turn to finish a fast-closing fourth in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on Nov. 30.
Miss Code West, who was named Remington Park’s horse of the meet for the second year in a row last week, was to have traveled to her winter base of Sam Houston on Friday, according to trainer Kevin Scholl.
He said Miss Code West likely will make her next start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic. The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares is the richest offering of the meet. It will be run Jan. 25.
“I think that’s probably where she’ll go her next out,” Scholl said. “It would be nice to get her graded placed – or a win.”
Just Steel is on schedule to return to the races this winter at Oaklawn Park, according to his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. The horse breezed three furlongs in 38 seconds Saturday, in his first published work since April.
Just Steel has not raced since sustaining an injury when finishing fifth in the Preakness Stakes in May. Last season at Oaklawn, he ran second in the Arkansas Derby, Southwest and Smarty Jones.
“He looks terrific,” Lukas said earlier in December. “He’d been in light training for 30 days before we came here, so he’s now in full training here.”
Jockey Fernando Jara, who is new to Oaklawn Park, picked up his first Arkansas stakes win on Saturday when he guided Spirit Wind to victory in the Poinsettia Stakes.
It was a fun win for his agent, former jockey Jose Santos. The retired Hall of Famer, who rode primarily on the East Coast, did experience Oaklawn stakes success himself back in 1988.
“I won a stakes for Wayne Lukas, with a horse named Lost Kitty,” Santos recalled. “The stakes name was the Honeybee.”
The South Florida-based Spirit Wind could see more action at the Oaklawn Park meet after winning her first race over the local surface in the $150,000 Poinsettia Stakes on Saturday.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Spirit Wind is a candidate for the local filly and mare sprint series. It begins with the $150,000 American Beauty on Feb. 1 and continues with the $150,000 Carousel on Feb. 22 and the $250,000 Matron on March 29.
Spirit Wind, who is 5, is a Grade 2 winner of more than $700,000. She shipped into Joseph’s division at Oaklawn for the Poinsettia.
Mouffy has been disqualified from her first-place finish in the $150,000 Perfect Sting Stakes on July 4 at Aqueduct after testing positive for the Class C medication Dexamethasone, according to a resolution of the issue posted on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit website.
An arbitrator has ruled that Southern California trainer Mike Puype should be credited for time served under a provisional suspension as the appropriate penalty for charges of possession of two illegal substances that were filed by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit earlier this year.
Champion and classic sire Uncle Mo was euthanized on Thursday following a leg injury. The stallion, who resided at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., was 16.
Owner Mike Repole, who was introduced to the nation when Uncle Mo became his first Grade 1 winner and champion, said the son of Indian Charlie underwent surgery yesterday for an injury to his left front leg – the nature and cause of which were not disclosed by either Repole or Coolmore.
Tim Layden, Ed Schuyler, and the late Edwin Pope have been selected for induction into the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, the museum announced Wednesday.
Layden, the only one of the trio who remains active, has won four Eclipse Awards – including in 2022 and 2023 – while working as a journalist at several New York newspapers, Sports Illustrated, and the NBC Sports Group. Over the past three decades, he has specialized in long-form journalism, transitioning to television writing with his hiring by NBC in 2019.
