ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita resumes racing on Friday for the first time in nearly four weeks with an eight-race program highlighted by the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes.
Racing was halted after the March 3 program following a rash of equine fatalities since late December that led track officials to conduct an inspection of the main track. The surface underwent renovation before the main track reopened for training on March 11.
A win is a win is a win, and even if odds-on favorite Bricks and Mortar, one of the best turf horses in the country, needed the luck of a head bob to beat 62-1 shot Markitoff and capture the Muniz Memorial Handicap on Saturday at Fair Grounds, it was another win marked down on his résumé.
“Now when I look at his record – seven wins from nine starts, and the two defeats, he was in trouble – that’s pretty impressive,” said trainer Chad Brown.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A front-running victory by 58-1 outsider Big Mountain ($118.50) in Sunday’s nightcap resulted in carryovers in both the pick six and the NYRA Bets late pick five for Friday’s card at Aqueduct.
The pick six, which starts with race 4 (3:15 p.m. Eastern) and is a $2 minimum bet, will have a carryover of $123,511 after going unhit Saturday and Sunday. There was a carryover of $18,169 entering Sunday’s card.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gunmetal Gray, who won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January, was diagnosed with a condylar fracture after a workout at Santa Anita on Sunday and was scheduled to undergo surgery later in the day.
Terry Finley, president and chief executive of West Point Thoroughbreds, which co-owns the colt, said the injury was diagnosed at the barn in the minutes after the workout and “doesn’t appear to be career-threatening.”
“It looks fixable,” Finley said.
Both Street Band, who won the Fair Grounds Oaks on Saturday, and Serengeti Empress, the 1-5 favorite who finished last after suffering from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (commonly just called ‘bleeding’), were reported in good condition Sunday morning.
Street Band got a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure for running 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.54, turning in what obviously was a career-best performance. Her victory was the most important career win for jockey Sophie Doyle, and it gave trainer Larry Jones – who co-owns Street Band, as well – his fourth Fair Grounds Oaks score.
Instagrand, third in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 9 in his 3-year-old debut, worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds at Los Alamitos on Sunday for an expected start in early April.
Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Instagrand had the fastest of 14 works at the distance. Last year, Instagrand was unbeaten in two starts, including an easy win by 10 1/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar in August.
Hollendorfer said no plans have been finalized for Instagrand’s next race, expected in early April.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Over the weekend, jockey Flavien Prat was nearly everywhere Thoroughbreds race and train in California at this time of year.
Prat was winless Saturday with two mounts at Golden Gate Fields, his first rides since he was in action at Oaklawn Park on March 16. On Sunday, Prat worked two multiple stakes winners in a little more than an hour at two tracks in Southern California.
Prat worked the filly Bellafina at Santa Anita at approximately 6:30 a.m., and Galilean at Los Alamitos, about 30 miles away, at about 7:45 a.m.
NEW ORLEANS – Although they will take different paths to get there, the top two finishers in Saturday's Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds are set to make their next starts in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, and the beaten favorite, War of Will, still has the Derby in play following a freak incident leaving the gate.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gift Box, a graded stakes winner in December in his most recent start, was declared on schedule for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on April 6 after a six-furlong solo workout at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Gift Box, unraced since a win in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Dec. 26, was timed in 1:13.80.
“He got over the track very well,” trainer John Sadler said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Martin Garcia, who has not ridden since late November at Del Mar because of a shoulder injury, resumed exercising horses at Santa Anita on Saturday with the intent of a quick return to race riding.
Garcia said he received doctor’s clearance on Friday to resume exercising horses.
“I can’t believe how long it took to come back,” he said between workouts. “Today is my first day. They wouldn’t let me get on a horse until I got clearance.”
