OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bob Flynn, who worked for both the New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association in a career that spanned 30 years, died Saturday night after a long illness. He was 65.
Flynn worked for NYRA for 18 years, the last six as an assistant racing secretary. In 1994, he joined the New York Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association as its executive director. The NYHBA ultimately became NYTHA.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maximum Security, the multiple Grade 1 winner who was disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby in May, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, trainer Jason Servis said Sunday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - David Jacobson, the leading trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit for three years who retired from training at the end of 2018, is recovering from a serious illness but said Saturday he would like to train horses again.
Jacobson, 64, said he suffered a perforated bowel that required three surgeries and extensive time in the Intensive Care Unit in a New York City hospital. He is now home and doing extensive therapy.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Spun to Run, the upset winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, will be considered for the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, but owner Robert Donaldson said it would be a least another week to 10 days before any decisions are made on where the 3-year-old will run next.
“There are so many options we’re looking at,” Donaldson said Friday. “People are calling us about the Saudi Cup. I got to let the horse tell us where we’re going. We’ll see what he’s telling us in seven to 10 days. The Cigar Mile’s definitely in play.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – If there was one area where trainer Chad Brown’s year was disappointing it was in the 3-year-old dirt division. Complexity won the 2018 Champagne, but could not repeat that effort in just two starts at age 3.
Network Effect and Aurelius Maximus, two horses who showed promise at 2, were hindered by injuries that prevented them from trying to get on the Triple Crown trail.
In fact, both Network Effect and Aurelius Maximus will be coming off year layoffs in a first-level allowance race going one mile Sunday at Aqueduct.
A referendum that would allow parimutuel wagering on horse races passed Tuesday in Jefferson County, Texas, according to officials. The unofficial margin was 54 percent for the proposition and 45 percent against. A second proposition providing for simulcast wagering in the same county also passed, with both election results expected to become official Nov. 12.
Bokeelia Island and Pendleton, a pair of multiple stakes winners trained by Justin Evans, are targeting stakes on the Land of Enchantment card Nov. 27 at Zia Park.
Evans said Bokeelia Island is being pointed for the $150,000 Zia Park Championship for 3-year-olds and up over a mile and an eighth, while Pendleton is a candidate for the $100,000 Zia Park Sprint at six furlongs.
Bokeelia Island is coming off a 1 3/4-length win in the $50,000 Veterans at a mile and a sixteenth Oct. 28 at Zia. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 90.
Mr Money Bags is scheduled to work Sunday for an intended start in the $250,000 Zia Park Derby, according to his trainer, Mike Neatherlin.
Based in Texas, Mr Money Bags has remained at Zia since winning the track’s $50,000 Roadrunner Stakes on Oct. 28.
“He came out of the race really well,” Neatherlin said. “We’ll work him light, just enough to stretch his legs a little bit.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Spiced Perfection, who was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last Saturday, is now at Churchill Downs after not bringing her reserve at Keeneland this past week, so she will remain in training in 2020 but could race again as soon as next month, trainer Peter Miller said Friday morning at Del Mar.
“Maybe the Go for Wand,” Miller said, referring to a Grade 3, $250,000 race at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, part of a card that includes the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, and Grade 2 Remsen and Demoiselle.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato said that Acclimate, who was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last Saturday, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup going 1 1/2 miles here on Nov. 29. He won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap going 1 3/8 miles on turf this past summer.
Acclimate was one of three horses D’Amato ran in the Breeders’ Cup. He said that Bowies Hero, who was fifth in the Mile after capturing the Grade 1 Shadwell Mile, “will get 45 days of paddock rest, and then we’ll look to campaign him next year.”
