Jockey Colby Hernandez rode his 2,000th winner Friday night at Fair Grounds. Hernandez put Crocodile Jacques on the lead in race 3 and never looked back, hitting the milestone with a 2 1/2-length win.
Hernandez, 30, began riding sanctioned races in 2006 and required 11,936 mounts to reach 2,000 winners. Born to a racing family in Opelousas, La., Hernandez has done nearly all his work in his home state and has been the leading rider at Evangeline Downs four times and at Delta Downs once.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen had a number of promising 3-year-olds in action last month between stakes at Oaklawn and Sunland Park.
Long Range Toddy finished second by a neck in the $150,000 Smarty Jones, a mile race that ended at the sixteenth pole at Oaklawn. The multiple stakes winner owned by Willis Horton Racing is now being pointed to that track’s Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 18.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has plotted a course for his and Stonestreet Stables’ two sprint stakes-winning females.
Dawn the Destroyer, who won the Interborough Stakes on Jan. 25 at Aqueduct, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap on Feb. 16 at Laurel Park.
Dream Pauline, who won the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes on Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park, will wait for the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison on April 6 at Keeneland.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Gregg Sacco may have more than one stakes-caliber 3-year-old in his barn.
Sacco, who is preparing Grade 1 winner Mind Control for the Grade 3 Gotham on March 9 at Aqueduct, is planning to run Joevia in next Saturday’s $150,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct.
Joevia, a son of Shanghai Bobby, won his debut by 1 3/4 lengths going five furlongs July 15 at Monmouth Park. Mooji Moo Jr. and Successful Zip, second and fourth respectively in that race, came back to win their next starts.
Win Win Win, who earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure when setting a stakes record of 1:20.89 in the seven-furlong Pasco, is skipping the Sam F. Davis next Saturday in favor of the meet showcase, the March 9 Tampa Bay Derby, trainer Mike Trombetta said.
Bred and owned by the Live Oak Stud of Charlotte Weber, Win Win Win remained at Tampa after the Jan. 19 Pasco in the care of Trombetta’s assistant, Melanie Williams.
Knicks Go was scheduled to have an easy half-mile breeze this weekend at Tampa Bay Downs in final preparation for his 3-year-old debut as the favorite in the Sam F. Davis Stakes next Saturday at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.
Trainer Ben Colebrook said a five-furlong breeze in 58.40 seconds on Jan. 26 “was the big work” for Knicks Go and that all but the finishing touches have been applied ahead of the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis, which offers 17 qualifying points (10-4-2-1) toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
An American in Dubai.
That’s the adventure Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas will embark on next month when heads overseas to run Bravazo in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30 at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates.
“I’ve never been there,” Lukas said Thursday.
Bravazo, who last month was fourth in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park, will be the first overseas starter for Lukas. It’s rare new racing territory for the 83-year-old. Lukas has won more Breeders' Cup races, 20, than any other trainer.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Improbable, the undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 8, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds on Friday at Santa Anita, moving closer to his 3-year-old debut.
Improbable has had five workouts since Jan. 9, showing a steady pattern of exercise in recent weeks. Trainer Bob Baffert said in a text message that he did not have a race selected for Improbable, who races for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Starlight Racing.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Extra Hope is likely to start in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds on March 9 after winning his 2019 debut in an allowance race with an $80,000 claiming option at a mile on Thursday at Santa Anita.
The $500,000 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles will be a formidable test for Extra Hope. Game Winner, the undefeated champion 2-year-old male of 2018, is a candidate for the same race.
Del Mar has added two Grade 3 stakes worth $100,000 each to the Pacific Classic program on Aug. 17 and will have five stakes on the card, a track record for a non-Breeders’ Cup day.
The Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf and the Torrey Pines Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile, will be on the undercard of the $1 million Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles, the track’s richest race.
