ARCADIA, Calif. – Skinner, a Grade 3 winner poised to emerge as a major player in the winter handicap division at Santa Anita, has been transferred from California trainer John Shirreffs to Midwest trainer Cherie DeVaux.
Owner Lee Searing confirmed the move on Wednesday. Skinner won the Native Diver in his most recent start Nov. 23 at Del Mar, and was nominated to the Grade 2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. But the next start for Skinner is expected to be at Fair Grounds.
Golden State Racing, a consortium of owners, breeders, trainers, and the California Authority of Racing Fairs, has withdrawn plans to conduct a winter-spring meeting in Pleasanton, Calif., beginning later this month, according to an announcement Monday.
Golden State Racing was scheduled to request racing dates from the California Horse Racing Board at its monthly meeting on Thursday but will no longer pursue that plan, officials said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – An untimely setback has derailed Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano, whose potentially lucrative winter campaign was originally scheduled to begin Dec. 26 in the Grade 2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita.
“He’s going to be out 60 days,” trainer John Sadler said Monday at Santa Anita. Sadler declined to offer specifics, but suggested the injury was not serious. It happened at an inopportune time. The $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia was Full Serrano’s main winter objective.
Coal Battle and Speed King, who finished a half-length apart when running one-two in Friday night’s $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park, could clash again in the upcoming 3-year-old series at Oaklawn Park.
Both horses were traveling to Oaklawn on Saturday morning, where their respective trainers, Lonnie Briley and Ron Moquett, have stables. The men each said a next race option for their charge is the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn.
Happy Is a Choice emerged from his win in the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes last weekend at Oaklawn Park in good order and has options for his next start, said trainer John Ortiz.
Happy Is a Choice won his second straight sprint stakes, following the Louisville Thoroughbred Society in September at Churchill Downs. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 104 for his Churchill win. Happy Is a Choice put up a 99 in the Ring the Bell.
World traveler Senor Buscador has returned home to New Mexico, where he will prep for the Pegasus World Cup, according to trainer Todd Fincher.
Senor Buscador was second in the Gulfstream Park race last season and from there went on to win the Saudi Cup and run third in the Dubai World Cup. He had spent much of the year based in Southern California.
The Pegasus will be run Jan. 25 at Gulfstream.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Speightful Lily has yet to duplicate her mammoth debut performance from 11 months ago, but her front-running victory Thursday in a second-level New York-bred allowance was a good sign to trainer James Bond.
Speightful Lily, who won her debut last January by 14 1/2 lengths while earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, won for the third time in five starts. She had not run since finishing sixth as the 4-5 favorite in a similar spot as Thursday in July at Saratoga.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Kant Hurry Love, who came off a 5 1/2-month layoff to win the Garland of Roses Stakes on Dec. 8, will most likely make her next start in the $100,000 What a Summer Stakes on Jan. 18 at Laurel Park, trainer David Duggan said.
Duggan said the lack of a six-furlong opportunity in New York for Kant Hurry Love is what made him look out of town. The next six-furlong stakes for females in New York is the $125,000 Correction on March 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York-bred Mama’s Gold won an open-company second-level allowance race by four lengths on Thursday, earning the same 103 Beyer Speed Figure he did winning the $250,000 Empire Classic on Oct. 27. Both races were run at 1 1/8 miles.
From Oklahoma to Southern California, two of trainer Doug O’Neill’s juveniles face important trials in late-season stakes.
On Friday, Dr. Ruben M, the winner of a maiden race at Santa Anita on Oct. 14, will have his stakes debut in the $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.
On Saturday, Rank, winless in five starts, is scheduled to run in the Grade 2, $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles.
