ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Russ Childs saddled his first winner at Santa Anita on Saturday when Navy Queen won a maiden special weight on turf.
Childs, 50, has a seven-horse stable at Los Alamitos and 16 runners based in Utah. He said after Saturday’s win that he plans to expand his stable in California and has clients who have invested in higher-quality runners that can compete on this circuit.
Childs has trained at Turf Paradise in Phoenix.
Los Alamitos has scheduled five stakes for its two-week winter meeting, which runs from Dec. 5-15, including the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares, which was not run in 2018.
The highlights of the meeting are the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies and the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity for 2-year-olds, both on Dec. 7. Both races are run at 1 1/16 miles. The Starlet has a purse of $300,000, while the Los Alamitos Futurity is worth $200,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Flavien Prat, the leading rider in Southern California this year, will ride Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, according to his agent, Derek Lawson.
The Breeders’ Cup Distaff is run at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2019: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, and more
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Restless Rider, whose return to racing was delayed Saturday when she was scratched from the Raven Run, will be out of training “a week or two” after grabbing her left front quarter in training last week, said trainer Kenny McPeek.
“She nicked herself over a sloppy track one morning last week,” said McPeek. “It’s very minor and far from her heart. I just want her 100 percent comfortable before we make any decisions about a next start.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Bret Jones was sitting in the same Keeneland box Saturday as his father, former Ky. Gov. Brereton C. Jones, the owner of Indian Pride, when the highly regarded filly carried the orange-and-green family silks postward as the favorite in the Raven Run Stakes.
Just to the left of the Joneses in the adjacent box stood Neil Pessin, the trainer of Bell’s the One. It just so happens that Bret Jones is the breeder of Bell’s the One.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown pre-entered 10 horses Monday for the two-day Breeders Cup World Championships at Santa Anita on Nov. 1-2 and said that while he pre-entered Bricks and Mortar in two races, he is leaning toward starting him in the $4 million Turf rather than the $2 million Mile.
Bricks and Mortar, 5 for 5 this year and a candidate for Horse of the Year, has never run 1 1/2 miles, the distance of the Turf, but the more Brown has watched the horse train, the more he thinks he’ll handle it despite having not run since Aug. 10.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Although it has been a year and a half since Midnight Bisou raced in California, she still has an affinity for the Santa Anita racetrack.
The 4-year-old filly posted an important five-furlong workout early Monday morning under jockey Mike Smith as she prepares for her role as favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Midnight Bisou worked at 6:40 a.m., breaking off at the five-furlong pole with the colt Comedian. She inched ahead of her workmate in deep stretch, and clockers gave her a work time of 1:00.40. Everyone else gave her thumbs-up.
The Downs at Albuquerque closed its traditional meet a month ago, but the track still has one more live program of racing to put on this year. And it’s a significant one – the 27th annual running of the American Quarter Horse Association’s Challenge Championships is returning to New Mexico on Saturday for the first time since 1993.
