NEW ORLEANS – This is the start of Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, and at the city’s historic racing venue, Fair Grounds, it’s the season of hope. The Kentucky Derby is four months away, and – who knows? – any newly turned 3-year-old in the barn who has flashed talent just might be the one.
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DRF Past Performances
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park main track was upgraded from muddy to “good” during training hours Sunday, and despite the wet conditions, the work tab was extensive. It included Something Awesome, who is prepping for the $9 million Pegasus World Cup.
With jockey Edgar Prado aboard, Something Awesome broke off at the five-furlong pole with stablemate Golden Noguez, was allowed to drop several lengths behind nearing the half-mile marker, angled wide into the stretch, and could not make up the ground when set down out near the middle of the track.
NEW ORLEANS – Fair Grounds-based Pegasus World Cup hopefuls Seeking the Soul and Tom’s d’Etat both were in good shape Sunday morning following five-furlong Saturday works, their trainers reported.
Seeking the Soul worked in a co-bullet 1:00 on a busy Saturday work tab. The winner of the Grade 1 Clark Handicap in 2017 before finishing fifth in last year’s Pegasus has been breezing faster in recent weeks at Fair Grounds than ever before in his career, turning in a six-furlong move in 1:11 and five-eighths in 59.60 last weekend.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In the glass-is-half-empty, glass-is-half-full department, credit trainer Brian Lynch with taking the latter approach the morning after Heart to Heart’s troubled third-place finish as the even-money favorite in Saturday’s Tropical Park Turf Stakes.
Laurel Park has canceled its Sunday racing program due to a winter storm that is forecast to deliver between six and eight inches of snow before it clears the area this evening.
Light snow began falling Saturday afternoon, just prior to the Nellie Morse, the last of four stakes on the card. Temperatures Sunday are predicted to hover in the mid-to-high 20s and low 30s.
Racing will resume at Laurel on Friday for a four-day race week that will conclude on Monday, Martin Luther King Day.
Laurel and Pimlico will be open for simulcast wagering Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The return of jockey Victor Espinoza from injuries sustained last summer has been postponed.
Brian Beach, Espinoza’s agent, said Friday that the popular rider plans to seek opinions from doctors in the near future regarding the condition of his spine, which was injured in a training accident at Del Mar last July.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Accelerate, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic and four other Grade 1 races in 2018, worked seven furlongs in 1:27.20 on Friday at Santa Anita in preparation for the $9 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park.
The exercise was moved forward a day because of expected inclement weather in Southern California this weekend and was a little longer than originally scheduled out of concern for wet conditions next week, trainer John Sadler said.
“We wanted the longer work because next week we could be looking at track closures,” Sadler said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The 18th running of the Sunshine Millions will serve as the highlight of the coming weekend at Gulfstream, with four stakes restricted to Florida-breds being run on Saturday Jan. 19.
Defending winners in three races are expected back, those being Jay’s Way for the $200,000 Classic; Starship Jubilee for the $150,000 Filly and Mare Turf; and X Y Jet for the $100,000 Sprint. The remaining race is the $150,000 Turf.
Entries for Saturday will be drawn Wednesday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jaywalk had her first recorded workout since she won the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when breezing an easy half-mile in 50.80 seconds Friday at the Palm Meadows training center.
“It was perfect,” trainer John Servis said afterward. “She galloped out super, so she didn’t lose much [fitness]. Everything went very good.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Riding assignments are set for all but Audible among the 11 older horses confirmed to race Jan. 26 in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
Javier Castellano, who rode both Audible and City of Light to victory on Breeders’ Cup weekend at Churchill Downs, will ride BC Dirt Mile winner City of Light, leaving the mount open on Audible. Todd Pletcher, trainer of Audible, said Friday a decision is still pending. Entries for the Pegasus will be drawn Jan. 22.