Fri, 11/29/2019 - 13:56

Maedean looks sharp in Demoiselle work

Joe Labozzetta/NYRA
Maedean pulls away to win the Tempted by 5 1/2 lengths under rider Luis Saez.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maedean, the 5 1/4-length winner of the Tempted at Aqueduct on Nov. 1, worked four furlongs in 48.75 seconds Friday morning over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for a start in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct.

Maedean started about two lengths behind the 3-year-old maiden Up and Onward and finished about a half-length in front at the wire. It was her second breeze since the Tempted.

“Excellent, couldn’t have gone any better,” trainer Mark Hennig said.

Fri, 11/29/2019 - 13:46

Independence Hall skipping Remsen to await Jerome

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Independence Hall will have two months between the Nashua and the Jan. 1 Jerome Stakes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Independence Hall will not run in next Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, but he will likely make his next start at Aqueduct.

Independence Hall, the 12 1/4-length winner of the Grade 3 Nashua here on Nov. 3, is being pointed to the $150,000 Jerome Stakes here on New Year’s Day, trainer Mike Trombetta said Friday. The Jerome is a logical spot in that it is run at the same one-mile distance and over the track at which Independence Hall won the Nashua. The Jerome also offers 17 qualifying points (10-4-2-1) to its top four finishers to the May 2 Kentucky Derby.

Fri, 11/29/2019 - 13:20

Scholar Athlete's accomplishments stand out in Sunday allowance.

Coady Photography
Scholar Athlete is 1 for 1 at Belmont Park. He comes into Wednesday's race off a win at Colonial Downs (above).

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sunday’s $47,000 allowance feature is carded at 1 1/8 miles on the turf and drew a field of eight led by Scholar Athlete, who is eligible for the race by virtue of the $35,000 optional-claiming conditions. He’s one of two horses in the field who’ll run for that tag along with Basha.

Fri, 11/29/2019 - 13:16

Art G Is Back just about ready to run again

Lauren King/Coglianese Photos
Art G Is Back, winning the Benny the Bull Stakes at Gulfstream, worked Friday and is being considered for several races in December.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Art G Is Back, who has maintained good form throughout his 3-year-old campaign, returned to the work tab here Friday, breezing for the first time since his second-place finish in the Sunshine Millions Classic Preview three weeks earlier at Gulfstream Park West.

Fri, 11/29/2019 - 09:50

Gaffalione feasts on stakes for Thanksgiving

Coady Photography
Mylady Curlin was a 2 1/4-length winner in Thursday's Falls City Stakes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thanksgiving Day at Churchill hardly could have gone any better for Tyler Gaffalione. The 25-year-old jockey swept the co-features, the Grade 2 Falls City and Grade 3 Cardinal, further punctuating what already has been a breakthrough season while building momentum for his return to his Florida home.

Fri, 11/29/2019 - 09:46

Asmussen on board for Turfway meet

Barbara D. Livingston
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen is facing a lawsuit over pay practices for some of his workers in New York.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen is among the trainers who have taken stalls at Turfway for the upcoming meet, perhaps the best illustration of the impact that new Churchill Downs Inc. ownership is already making 95 miles up Interstate 71.

Fri, 11/29/2019 - 09:46

Final day features two allowances, but no huge jackpot

Coady Photography
Seven Trumpets, with Channing Hill aboard, wins the Good Lord Stakes by three-quarters of a length.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The last time Churchill Downs conducted racing in December, Joe Hirsch was 10 months old and Herbert Hoover was the president-elect.

It was on Saturday, Dec. 1, 1928, that Churchill closed a seven-day meet begun the previous Saturday, according to track archives. Ninety-one years later, they’ll finally run a December card again when closing the fall meet with 12 Sunday races.

Wed, 11/27/2019 - 21:11

Eight new cases of equine herpesvirus confirmed at Remington Park

There were eight new confirmed cases of equine herpesvirus at Remington Park in the latest round of Oklahoma Department of Agriculture tests returned Wednesday, but all of the cases were asymptomatic and the horses have been placed in a special isolation barn on the backstretch, according to Matt Vance, Remington’s vice president of racing operations.

Vance said the two horses who returned positive tests Nov. 21 tested negative for EHV-1 on Wednesday. He also said no horses in the first of the two barns quarantined since the initial case Nov. 14 tested positive Wednesday.

Wed, 11/27/2019 - 19:18

Stidham wins 2,000th race

Tom Keyser
Trainer Mike Stidham sent out his 2,000th career winner on Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs.

Mike Stidham sent out the 2,000th winner of his training career when Lem Me Tel Ya rallied to victory in the eighth race Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldmar, Fla.

Stidham, a 61-year-old native of Neptune, N.J., began training in 1979, with his first winner coming in January 1980 at Florida Downs, which eventually was renamed Tampa. He has since won 42 graded stakes, with his most accomplished runners being Two Altazano, Willcox Inn, Upperline, Istanford, and Synchrony.

Wed, 11/27/2019 - 16:57

Forecast for high winds prompts Aqueduct to cancel Thanksgiving Day card

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct's Thanksgiving Day card has been canceled due to a forecast that calls for high winds, the New York Racing Association announced late Wednesday afternoon.

According to weather.com, the forecast for Thursday calls for winds from 15 to 25 miles per hour with occasional wind gusts over 40 miles per hour.

However, according to the weather service that NYRA uses, the forecast calls for winds from 42 to 44 miles per hour with gusts above 50 miles per hour.