Seven fillies and mares in a second-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option contest the featured ninth race Wednesday at Churchill Downs, all well and good, but, in the end, will be a secondary storyline on this card since a horse named Barnes contests race 7.
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DRF Past Performances
Killian Leonard came from Europe to begin riding in Kentucky this fall. After a good start, he has the opportunity to ride his first stakes race in this country on closing weekend at Churchill Downs, and then plans to base his tack at Turfway Park when the circuit moves to that track on Dec. 4.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione was off his mounts again Saturday at Churchill Downs as he continues recovering from a fall last weekend.
Gaffalione went down in the third race on Nov. 16 at Churchill when his mount, Shadow Coast, was squeezed between horses and knocked off stride just after the start.
Gaffalione’s agent, Matt Muzikar, reported on Saturday that he suffered no serious injuries in the accident, and Shadow Coast, after being caught by an outrider, walked off the course.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A dramatic five-horse spill in Friday’s first race at Woodbine sent jockeys Edgar Zenteno, Justin Stein, and Da-Sean Gaskin to hospital.
Zenteno’s mount, No Layups, appeared to clip heels with the front-running favorite Whiskey N Ice in the five-furlong dash and went down on the turn. The incident triggered a chain reaction of horses dislodging their riders. All five horses were eventually corralled and appeared to escape injury.
Woodbine’s communications department posted an update on all three riders.
Laurel Park in Maryland has canceled its Saturday and Sunday race cards in the wake of jockeys expressing concern over the condition of the main track prior to Friday’s card.
The decision to cancel the entire weekend came several hours after management canceled Friday’s nine-race card. Just minutes before post time on Friday, riders and management had met to discuss the riders’ concerns, which were precipitated by a catastrophic injury during training hours earlier in the day, according to Herbie Rivera Jr., the Jockeys’ Guild representative for Laurel’s riders.
Full Serrano, the upset winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2, will have his first start of the winter in the Grade 2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, a prep race for a scheduled start outside of California in early 2025.
The $200,000 Pincay Stakes was previously run as the San Antonio Stakes, and honors the legendary Hall of Fame rider. The Pincay Stakes is one of six stakes on the opening day of Santa Anita’s winter-spring meeting.
Sofia Vives, the Sovereign Award-winning apprentice rider in Canada for 2023 and a finalist for the Eclipse Award as North America’s top apprentice as well, will ride at Aqueduct this winter.
Vives got a jump start on her New York experiment on Thursday, when she won with her first Aqueduct mount, guiding Ariana Rye to a 2 1/4-length victory in a starter allowance for trainer Robert Falcone Jr.
Coming out of a loss in a maiden $40,000 claiming race at Tampa in December 2022, it appeared a bit fluky when Toxic Gray upset the heavily favored first-time starter Everso Mischievous in a maiden race at Aqueduct in February 2023.
Toxic Gray took a circuitous route back to Aqueduct but recent results indicate he could have a bright future here this winter.
Talented 2-year-old colt Jonathan’s Way will start in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs, trainer Philip Bauer said Thursday.
Jonathan’s Way won his first two starts before finishing seventh Nov. 1 as a 5-1 chance in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Stalking from fifth midway through the race, his first around two turns, Jonathan’s Way lost ground to victorious Citizen Bull through the final half-mile and finished seven lengths behind the winner.
Santa Anita has eliminated 11 stakes, and reduced purses for three major races – the Santa Anita Derby, Santa Anita Handicap, and Santa Anita Oaks – for the forthcoming winter-spring meeting from Dec. 26 to June 15, the track announced on Thursday.
Overall, prize money in the stakes program has been reduced by $1.675 million from the 2023-24 meeting. In a statement, the track indicated that some of those monies will be redirected to overnight purses.