OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Divine Miss Grey, a five-time stakes winner in 2018, is nearing her first workout of the year as she prepares for her 5-year-old season, which is likely to start in the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct on March 10. Divine Miss Grey won last year’s Heavenly Prize by 6 3/4 lengths.
“That’s probably the most likely spot for her to run,” trainer Danny Gargan said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The complexion of the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 2 changed significantly this week when the connections of the multiple stakes-winning Mind Control said they would skip the race to await the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes on March 9.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The next week at Santa Anita could be a pivotal time for some of the circuit’s 3-year-olds.
An allowance race with an $80,000 claiming option at a mile is scheduled for Thursday, two days before the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. Several trainers have horses that could go in either spot.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita plans to run nine-race programs on weekdays and 10 races on weekends in February, continuing a plan in place since the start of the meeting on Dec. 26, new racing secretary Steve Lym said Friday.
The track has called on trainers to focus on local races. On overnights this weekend, the track published a notice stating that trainers who want to enter runners at other tracks and bring the horse back to Santa Anita must gain permission from the Santa Anita racing office.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Blackjackcat, a multiple stakes winner who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar in 2017, was recently transferred from trainer Mark Glatt to Jerry Hollendorfer.
A 6-year-old gelding by Tale of the Cat owned by Al and Sandee Kirkwood, Blackjackcat was sixth in the Cotton Fitzsimmons Stakes at Turf Paradise on Jan. 12 in his only stakes appearance since last spring.
Glatt said Friday the decision was made by the Kirkwoods and that the transfer occurred “about a week ago.”
There are races in the region for Fair Grounds-based Harlan Punch, winner of the Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 19 at Fair Grounds, but his connections are considering something much more ambitious.
Harlan Punch, who got a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for his three-quarter-length Louisiana win, has the Mineshaft Handicap at Fair Grounds and the Razorback at Oaklawn as possible next starts, but trainer Brad Cox said he’d also nominated Harlan Punch to the Group 2, $1.5 million Godolphin Mile on March 30 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Roddy MacKenzie, an exercise rider for trainer Neil Howard, had surgery last week to repair broken bones after a terrible training accident at Fair Grounds, and despite facing a long road to recovery is progressing as well as could be hoped.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Conspicuous by her absence from the Ladies’ Turf Sprint lineup on the Pegasus World Cup undercard was Girls Know Best, who won the 2018 running and was in ideal position to defend her title after winning the $100,000 Abundantia here Dec. 29.
But the speedy 5-year-old mare has been sidelined by a minor injury, said trainer and co-owner Eddie Kenneally.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Maximus Mischief and Mihos are the expected favorites next Saturday, when the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes is run as the first of three Kentucky Derby qualifying races at the Gulfstream Park championship meet.
Maximus Mischief, making his first start since winning the Dec. 1 Remsen at Aqueduct for Cash Is King LLC and LC Racing, will put his unbeaten record on the line in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, which is worth Derby points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the top four finishers.
The Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association honored the best of Penn National at its annual awards banquet Monday night with Bush Racing Stable recognized as the leading owner by wins in 2018 and for campaigning Persie, who was named the track’s Horse of the Year.
The other honorees were Tim Kreiser, who topped the trainer standings for the fifth straight year; leading jockey Julio Hernandez; and Tom Coulter, who led all owners in purses earned.
