Dennis Moore is leaving his position as track consultant at Santa Anita on Dec. 31, he said on Friday.
Moore said that the decision has been planned for months.
“I gave them my notice in September,” he said. “I just turned 69, and when you get to that that age you start winding down.
“It was a hard decision. They’ve been good to me and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m proud of what we accomplished over there.”
Moore said he will be replaced by Andy LaRocco.
The 3-year-olds River Boyne and Tatters to Riches are both owned by Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, and each has a strong chance in a graded stakes on opening day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.
River Boyne, a four-time stakes winner this year, figures to be favored in the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dr. Edgar, the focal point in one of the more controversial races of the 2018 Saratoga season, will bring his good form to Gulfstream Park for the first time when he takes on 11 rivals under high-level optional-claiming conditions in Sunday’s $48,000 main event at a mile on turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Catherine Day Phillips captured the Ontario Lassie Stakes for the second year in a row on Dec. 9, sending out Artilena to victory over Hastalavistababy.
Day Phillips won the 2017 edition of the Ontario Lassie with Dixie Moon, who went on to win this year’s Woodbine Oaks. Day Phillips will be hoping Artilena can follow in Dixie Moon’s footsteps next season, and will put together Artilena’s 3-year-old campaign with the Woodbine Oaks in mind.
Skyler’s Scramjet, a three-time winner at Aqueduct last winter and spring, including a 1 1/2-length win in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap last March, is eying a return to the races in the $100,000 Gravesend Stakes here on Dec. 23.
Skyler’s Scramjet has not run since finishing sixth of eight in the Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park in June.
“His last start at Monmouth he didn’t ship well, got real light on me,” trainer Michelle Nevin said. “He’s a nervous horse to train and he was telling me he needed a break.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Midnight Disguise, a three-time stakes winner on this circuit earlier this year, returned to the work tab Thursday at Belmont Park, breezing a half-mile in 50.71 seconds as she begins preparation for a 4-year-old campaign in 2019.
The West Virginia Racing Commission on Thursday approved 164 days of racing at Charles Town for 2019 and signed off on the track's unrestricted stakes schedule, including the Grade 2 Classic, which will have a reduced purse of $1 million.
The Charles Town Classic has become a point of contention between Charles Town management and the commission, which believes the purse is excessive and that the funds can be used more effectively to benefit racing in the state.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – With the 133-day meet ending on Sunday, there’s good and bad news on the wagering front at Woodbine. Overall betting is up, but the important home-market handle has decreased.
“Wagering by Ontario customers on the 2018 Woodbine Thoroughbred meet is down 5 percent,” said Greg Martin, Woodbine’s vice president of wagering. “We would expect this bottom-line number to improve. All-sources wagering on the Woodbine Thoroughbred meet is currently up 3 percent due to strong growth from U.S. markets.”
Trainer Brad Cox has been on a stakes tear all year long and on Sunday he will invade Remington Park with starters for three of the six stakes making up the final card of the meet, including the $400,000 Springboard Mile.
The Springboard Mile and the Oklahoma Derby, run in September, are the co-richest races at the Remington meet. The Springboard Mile will award its first four finishers Kentucky Derby eligibility points on a scale of 10-4-2-1.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jeremiah Englehart trains three of the six juvenile fillies entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $150,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes at six furlongs at Aqueduct.
Englehart entered Cartwheelin Lulu, winner of the Joseph A. Gimma on Sept. 19; Party Like Grandma, winner of the Seeking the Ante in Saratoga on Aug. 24; and L. A. Page, a debut winner at Belmont on Sept. 14 who finished eighth in the Maid of the Mist on Oct. 20.
