After riding at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park for most of the past three months, Joe Bravo has returned to his East Coast roots. The 47-year-old jockey guided Synchrony to victory Saturday in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap, then hopped a plane to ride five races Sunday at Gulfstream and six more Monday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Anthony Mitchell has yet to be knighted back in his native England, but Sir Anthony the horse lives and breathes nonetheless in Barn 18 at Gulfstream Park.
“A while back the owner said, ‘I’ve got an idea for this horse,’ ” an amused Mitchell recalled early this week on his Gulfstream shed row. “He said he wanted to name the horse after me, and I said, ‘Well, it better be good, then.’ ”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Belvoir Bay may not be idle for long following her comfortable win in the Wishing Well Stakes last Saturday at Santa Anita.
Trainer Peter Miller said Sunday that Belvoir Bay could start in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile on turf for fillies and mares this Saturday.
“It’s not out of the question to bring her back,” he said.
Miller emphasized that he will follow Belvoir Bay’s progress this week before deciding whether the 6-year-old mare will start.
ARCADIA, Calif. –Risky Proposition, who was claimed twice in 2018, is bound for the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes for turf marathoners on March 23 at Santa Anita after winning an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option Sunday.
Risky Proposition closed from eighth in a field of 11 to win the one-mile turf race by a half-length for his second win in his last three starts. Prior to the race, trainer Bill Spawr said he was concerned the one-mile distance was too short for Risky Proposition, who closed well under jockey Joe Talamo to record an 11-1 upset.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Roadster, unraced since finishing third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September, is moving closer to his 3-year-old debut.
Trained by Bob Baffert for Speedway Stable, Roadster worked six furlongs in 1:10.60 from the gate Sunday at Santa Anita, the fastest of 18 works at the distance.
“I’m happy he worked well,” Baffert said. “He’s coming back.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gerald Bennett tied the Tampa record he already shared with two other trainers by sending out four winners on the Sunday card.
It was the third time Bennett has won four at Tampa. The feat also has been accomplished by Jamie Ness and Kathleen O’Connell, who have done it once each.
Bennett’s winners came with High Five Cotton, Dog Soldier, Whateverusaydear, and Soul of the Hero. A fifth starter, Classical Lady, finished fourth.
Trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. said Imperial Hint was “carrying heat and was tender” in his right front foot the morning after being upset as the 1-5 favorite Saturday in the $75,000 Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Carvajal is optimistic Imperial Hint can overcome the setback in time to run in the March 30 Dubai Golden Shaheen.
Trainer Justin Evans collected the 2,000th Thoroughbred training win of his career Sunday, when Curlina Curlina won the second race at Sunland Park.
Evans is a perennial leading trainer in New Mexico.
Curlina Curlina ($2.40) rallied for a 4 1/2-length win in the $6,500 maiden claiming sprint for fillies and mares. Luis Contreras was aboard for A and A Equine and Paul Miller.
NEW ORLEANS – The rematch is on, with the first three finishers in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes likely to return for the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 23 at Fair Grounds.
But is it a fair match? War of Will wasn’t quite as dominant winning the Risen Star, which he took by 2 1/4 lengths, as he was winning the Lecomte here Jan. 19 by five lengths. But the Risen Star outcome never really looked in doubt, and there are more reasons to believe War of Will can run better next month than there are to doubt his performance Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Marley’s Freedom has won five graded stakes in her last six starts at distances ranging from six furlongs to a mile.
Her status as a top-level sprinter is secure. Her only loss in her last six races was a fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs in November, a defeat that cost her a championship.
Marley’s Freedom won her 2019 debut Saturday in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita. It could be her last sprint for the foreseeable future.
