The $150,000 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park on Sunday took on added significance Thursday when trainer Jason Servis entered Florida Derby winner Maximum Security in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds. The Pegasus will be the first start for Maximum Security since he crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby and then was disqualified to 17th following a 22-minute review of the race by the stewards.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board and Santa Anita announced Wednesday that horses racing at Santa Anita through the end of the meeting on June 23 will be subjected to heightened pre-race evaluation by a panel of experts in an effort to improve safety in the aftermath of 29 equine fatalities since late December.
Wednesday’s announcement came less than 24 hours after California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a brief statement criticizing racing for the recent fatalities. Newsom called for greater oversight from veterinarians.
Four hundred miles apart, at Arlington International in Arlington Heights, Ill., and Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., father-and-son trainers are preparing high-level female sprinters for the summer racing season.
Hugh Robertson at Arlington has Hotshot Anna ready to make her 2019 debut on June 29 in the Chicago Handicap, while at Canterbury, Hugh’s son, Mac, gave Amy’s Challenge her first work since she last raced May 4, finishing third in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Roadster, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6 but 15th in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, is part of a projected field of five in Sunday’s Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita.
The $100,000 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds is run at 1 1/16 miles and could produce a few runners for the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles on July 13.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Rafael Bejarano may reach a career milestone Friday at Santa Anita.
Bejarano begins the eight-race program with 3,998 wins in North America. Bejarano, 36, has ridden in this country since May 2002 and began his career in 2001 in his native Peru.
Bejarano has two mounts Friday – Blended Citizen in the third race and Littlefirefighter in the seventh race. He has six mounts on Saturday’s nine-race program, including Desert Law in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes for California-breds at six furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Omaha Beach, the multiple graded stakes winner who was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby last month because of an entrapped epiglottis, returned to trainer Richard Mandella’s stable at Santa Anita earlier this week.
Omaha Beach is scheduled to undergo further tests before resuming training.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Bourbon War, who finished last in the Belmont Stakes after running eighth in the Preakness, could make his next start on turf, trainer Mark Hennig said Wednesday.
Hennig noted that My Conquestadory, the dam of Bourbon War, was “a miler on turf.” She won the Grade 2 Summer Stakes as a first-time starter on turf and came back to win the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland when that track had a synthetic surface.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed concern about the rate of fatal injuries at Santa Anita in a statement issued Tuesday evening, calling for enhanced veterinary examinations for horses entered to race.
“I continue to be troubled by the horse deaths at Santa Anita Park,” the two-paragraph statement began. “Enough is enough. I’m am calling on the California Horse Racing Board to ensure that no horse races until they are examined by independent veterinarians and found fit to compete.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A field of 12 older horses, one of the largest in years, has been entered for the Grade 2, $600,000 Stephen Foster, to be run Saturday night under the Churchill Downs lights.
The likely favorites, Gift Box and Tenfold, will start alongside each other in the 1 1/8-mile Foster in posts 6 and 7. The lineup also includes such accomplished runners as Seeking the Soul, Tom’s d’Etat, Quip, and Yoshida.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It’s not often you see a horse fresh from a Grade 1 victory make her next start in an ungraded race, but that’s what Mia Mischief will be doing next Saturday, June 22, in the $120,000 Roxelana at Churchill Downs.
