ARCADIA, Calif. – The postponement of the Santa Anita Handicap to April 6 is working out fine for presumptive favorite McKinzie, who will share the spotlight on the same card with Santa Anita Derby-bound stablemates Roadster and Game Winner.
Based on early-morning workouts for trainer Bob Baffert on Tuesday at Santa Anita, McKinzie and Roadster will enter the Grade 1 races in peak form.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The racetrack ride is over for 9-year-old gelding Vyjack, the multiple graded stakes winner who holds the Santa Anita turf course record for one mile (1:31.69). Vyjack has been retired from racing, trainer Phil D’Amato said Tuesday.
Vyjack is owned David Wilkenfeld, whose stable name is Pick Six Racing. Wilkenfeld purchased Vyjack for $100,000 at a 2-year-old sale in 2012, and kept him through a career that spanned six seasons. Racing for D’Amato and trainers Rudy Rodriguez and Bill Mott, Vyjack won eight races and $1,427,600 from 31 starts.
The 2019 stakes schedule at Parx consists of 28 races worth more than $5.62 million, an increase of two stakes and $275,000 from a year ago.
David Osojnak, who was named director of racing at Parx in October, has placed an emphasis on building up the Bensalem, Pa., track's biggest days. Nineteen of the 28 stakes will be run on three programs.
The highlight of the season comes Sept. 21 when the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion, both Grade 1 races worth $1 million, will top a seven-stakes card. That program has traditionally included five stakes.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey David Cabrera will be off his mounts for an undetermined period as he tends to a family emergency in Mexico, according to his agent, Jose Santos Jr. He missed racing here Saturday.
“We spoke the other night, and he is down in Mexico,” Santos said Monday. “He’s going to touch base whenever he thinks he can be back, maybe riding the last few weeks of this meet, or waiting until Prairie Meadows.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A rematch is brewing between Rated R Superstar and Snapper Sinclair, both of whom finished a head apart when running a respective one-two in the $350,000 Essex Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn.
The connections for both said they are being pointed to the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 13.
Rated R Superstar made a four-wide move around the final turn and edged Snapper Sinclair on the wire. Rated R Superstar covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.66. Both horses earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Now that racing will resume March 29 at Santa Anita, the predicted mass exodus of horses from Southern California will be a mere trickle.
Every spring, locally based horses leave the state for Derby preps and big purses. The same is happening this year. But a forecast of complete evacuation has changed, and when entries for the March 29 “opening day” card are accepted, they will come from a large pool.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jason Servis has a trio of horses – Call Paul, Bronzed, and Clench – nominated to Saturday’s $100,000 Hutcheson Stakes, but said Monday he has no plans to run any of the three in the Grade 3 dash for 3-year-olds.
Call Paul is the best of the group, coming off a victory here earlier in the meet in the Grade 3 Swale.
“The owners want to run him in the Bay Shore,” said Servis. “He’s doing good, and I’m looking forward to trying him there. At the moment, I think he’s strictly a sprinter.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The local contingent set to compete on the March 30 Dubai World Cup card are scheduled to depart South Florida on Tuesday, all five getting in their final major works for their respective races at several venues throughout the area over the past several mornings.
Audible and Gunnevera, both pointing to the $12 million World Cup, lead a group that also includes Coal Front, who’ll run in the Godolphin Mile, and X Y Jet and Promises Fulfilled, who are slated to square off in the Golden Shaheen.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s not too often you see a 9-year-old get claimed, but that’s the way Rich Averill operates. Averill, the leading owner at the Tampa Bay Downs meet, claimed Oak Bluffs for $25,000 from the third race Sunday at Gulfstream.
“I just love the older horses,” said Averill, whose stable roster includes Adios Nardos (10 years old), Pay Any Price (9), Fire Mission (9), and others age 7 or 8. “They know where the wire is. I’d rather claim them than ones with conditions.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jaywalk could have her final Kentucky Oaks prep in the Ashland Stakes on opening weekend of the Keeneland spring meet – and the reigning divisional champion probably will need a new jockey if that happens.
Trainer John Servis said Monday that Jaywalk still could run in the Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks on the March 30 Florida Derby undercard at Gulfstream, but that he is leaning toward the Grade 1, $500,000 Ashland on April 6 as a stepping-stone to the May 2 Kentucky Oaks. Both the Gulfstream Park Oaks and Ashland are at 1 1/16 miles.
