ETOBICOKE, Ontario – While horse racing fans and handicappers are used to seeing Roger Attfield’s name as the trainer of record for stakes-winning horses, they may not be as familiar with the Hall of Famer listed as the winning breeder. But Attfield recorded a stakes win as a trainer, owner, and breeder on Nov. 16, when Gun Society captured the South Ocean Stakes by a half-length over Owlette.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tiz the Law, who figures as a solid favorite for the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes here Saturday, was among the Monday arrivals at Churchill following an early-morning charter flight from New York.
A four-length winner of the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont last month, Tiz the Law had his final pre-race breeze Saturday at Belmont Park, going five furlongs in a bullet 59.60 seconds. Barclay Tagg trains the Constitution colt for the Sackatoga Stable.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Back-to-back allowances, both with full fields of fillies and mares, highlight a 10-race Wednesday card that kicks off the final five-day stretch of the Churchill fall meet.
Race 8 is a $99,000 second-level route that’s scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf – although rain was forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning a seven-horse also-eligible list might well come into play.
Race 9 is a $97,000 first-level sprint in which Lady Kate stands to benefit from a recent comeback start for Eddie Kenneally.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s something to be said for sleeping in one’s own stall. Seeking the Soul tends to fare better running out of Barn 37 at Churchill Downs than anywhere else, having already captured both of the track’s biggest races for older horses.
“He’s back at Churchill, where we know he likes to win,” said Dallas Stewart, who trains Seeking the Soul for owner-breeder Chuck Fipke.
The founder of the internationally prominent Phoenix Thoroughbreds syndicate has been implicated in a money-laundering scheme in a New York court, according to a published report.
Amer Abdulaziz of Dubai, who heads Phoenix Thoroughbreds, is alleged to have had a role in fraud pertaining to the fake cryptocurrency OneCoin, the Racing Post reported on Sunday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Fresh off a victory with Midcourt in the Grade 3 Native Diver last Saturday at Del Mar, trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Victor Espinoza will team anew this Saturday with Nolde in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby.
Nolde won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby here during the summer, but disappointed last time out in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby. He has won three times in five starts since Espinoza took over as his rider in May, one of several horses for whom Shirreffs and Espinoza work closely, starting with training in the morning.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Storm the Court, the upset winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, is scheduled to have his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 1, trainer Peter Eurton confirmed on Sunday.
The $100,000 Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles is a prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 4. Eurton said he would prefer Storm the Court’s first start of 2020 be in Southern California.
“That would be a logical spot to stay in town,” he said.
Hampered by a decline in racing dates, all-sources handle at California racetracks declined 10 percent through October compared to 2018, according to figures announced at the California Horse Racing Board meeting on Nov. 21.
This year, there were 326 afternoon Thoroughbred programs through October compared to 349 at the same time last year, a decline of 6.5 percent. The have been 155 programs of Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred races at Los Alamitos or harness racing at Sacramento, seven fewer than last year.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A severe storm forecast to hit the San Diego area the middle part of the upcoming holiday week has caused Del Mar to cancel its Thanksgiving Day card Thursday, and move stakes races scheduled for that day and Friday to 48 hours later, the track announced Sunday morning.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Corey Nakatani, who had not ridden since August 2018 owing to severe back injuries, on Saturday made official what had long been assumed, that he will not ride again.
Nakatani – in a press release distributed by his son, Matt, a jockey agent – announced that he was retiring, ending a 30-year career that saw him win 3,909 races in North America, including 10 in the Breeders’ Cup, all while competing year-round against what was a deep jockey colony based in Southern California that produced numerous members of the Hall of Fame.
