ARCADIA, Calif. – Journeyman rider Iggy Puglisi rode his first winner since November 2017 in Sunday’s sixth race at Santa Anita aboard Bouncing Around in a $30,000 claimer for maidens.
For Puglisi, the win felt like so much more than a minor sprint.
“It’s been a long time,” he said as he left the winner’s circle. “I had tears in my eyes when I was pulling up. I feel like I’d won the Derby.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Don Warren, who trained the champion Acclamation earlier this decade, died early Thursday, Santa Anita’s publicity department announced on Friday.
Warren was 67 and had been in declining health in recent years, which led to his retirement from training in the summer of 2015.
“He had been taking pain medication for a degenerative back disease, which caused his kidneys to shut down,” Rhonda Schiewe, Warren’s sister, told Santa Anita publicity.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gift Box, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on April 6, is nearing his second start of 2019 in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27 in peak form, trainer John Sadler said.
Saturday, Gift Box worked six furlongs in 1:13.60, a workout Sadler described as “sensational.”
Santa Anita’s main track has not produced quick workout times in recent weeks, which left Sadler impressed with Gift Box’s effort.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Heavenhasmynikki, head winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Vagrancy, was scheduled to return to Keeneland to train as her connections decide where to run her next. That next start will most likely come at Belmont Park in either the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Invitational going seven furlongs on June 7 or the Grade 1, $700,000 Ogden Phipps going 1 1/16 miles on June 8.
ELMONT, N.Y. – In 2018, trainer Chad Brown ran 1-2 in the New York Stakes. In 2016, his runners finished 1-2-3 in the 1 1/4-mile stakes for females on turf.
Brown figures to be loaded again for this year’s renewal of the Grade 2, $600,000 New York on June 7 with the trio of Homerique, Competitionofideas, and Santa Monica.
Homerique made a successful U.S. debut Saturday, outfinishing Competitionofideas by a neck to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Beaugay at Belmont.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Coming off his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park, Channel Maker will likely follow a similar schedule to the one he had in 2018 with one possible exception. He is not certain to run in the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan on Belmont Stakes Day.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Catholic Boy hadn’t been on the turf since he won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby here 10 months ago. On Saturday morning, he got reacquainted with the surface, working five furlongs in 1:02.07 over Belmont’s inner turf course as he prepares for an intended start in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Dixie Stakes at Pimlico.
Though they were one year removed from teaming up to win the Triple Crown, trainer Bob Baffert didn’t hold any ill feelings toward Mike Smith when the Hall of Fame jockey chose to ride Omaha Beach rather than the Baffert-trained Roadster in the Kentucky Derby.
While neither Baffert nor Smith were wearing roses a week ago, they will be reunited in Baltimore next Saturday with Improbable, who most likely will be favored in the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Baffert will be seeking his eighth Preakness victory, Smith his third.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association said it will establish the Empire Racing Club, a non-profit organization designed to introduce fans to racehorse ownership.
The club will be limited to 200 members and it will cost $500 to join. That fee covers membership for 2019. Todd Pletcher, a seven-time Eclipse Award winning trainer, will be the trainer for the Empire Racing Club. Retired racetrack announcer Tom Durkin will serve as the club’s managing partner.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mr. Buff, who reeled off four consecutive victories in races run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns before a ninth-place finish in the New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds on March 23, will cut back to a one-turn mile for the $200,000 Commentator Stakes here on May 27, trainer John Kimmel said Friday.
The last time Mr. Buff ran in a one-turn race, he finished third behind Pat On the Back in the Empire Classic here last fall. Pat On the Back is pointing to the Met Mile.
