OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On Friday, at Aqueduct, Bob Klesaris will start his first horse as a trainer in 11 years. Just don’t call it a comeback.
“I’m just passing the time,” Klesaris said Wednesday.
Klesaris is the trainer of One More Tom, entered in a $40,000 claiming race for horses who haven’t won two races. The one-mile race goes as the seventh on Friday’s nine-race card.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s $100,000 Sugar Swirl lost likely favorite Curlin’s Approval earlier this week due to a minor illness, but picked up a couple of surprise entrants with Dream Pauline and Stormy Embrace among the eight fillies and mares now slated to contest the six-furlong Grade 3 dash.
Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017 who has won the last two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds at Del Mar on Wednesday in preparation for the 2019 season.
Trainer Peter Miller on Wednesday reiterated previously stated plans to have Roy H ready for the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes at six furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 19 as a prep for the Group 1 Golden Shaheen in Dubai on March 30.
Owned by Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen, Roy H was third in the Golden Shaheen last March.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The $100,000 Soviet Problem Stakes for California-bred 2-year-old fillies will be run on Saturday without the first two finishers of the Golden State Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
Give Me a Hint, who won the Golden State Juvenile Fillies in her stakes debut, is being rested until the spring, trainer Bob Hess Jr. said.
“I’m going to give her a little break,” he said. “She has a few little baby things.”
Mucho Unusual “won’t make the race,” trainer Tim Yakteen said in a text message.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Quarter Horse jockey Cesar De Alba is retiring this weekend and plans to begin training Thoroughbreds on the Southern California daytime circuit in 2019.
De Alba, 37, said on Tuesday that he is in the process of completing the certification process to secure a trainer’s license. He said he plans to be based at Los Alamitos and may have a small group of Quarter Horses racing at the track’s year-round nighttime meeting.
Santa Anita’s betting menu will have a new addition beginning on Dec. 26 when the track launches a win wager patterned on roulette.
Horse Racing Roulette will be conducted on fields with six or more runners, with runners divided into three groups, dubbed red, black, and green.
The bet will have a 15.43 percent takeout, similar to a win bet. The morning-line favorite will typically be listed in the red group, while the green group will have more longshots, according to a statement released by Santa Anita on Tuesday.
Alwaysmining and Our Braintrust ran strong races to finish first and second in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity last Saturday at Laurel Park. The two Maryland-breds could meet again in either the $150,000 Jerome at Aqueduct or the $100,000 Heft Stakes at Laurel.
The one-mile Jerome will be held New Year’s Day. The Heft is a seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds on Dec. 29.
Following a promising 2-year-old campaign, Congrats Gal will be given the winter off in Florida before rejoining trainer Cal Lynch’s Laurel Park stable in March.
In her last three starts, Congrats Gal has finished second by 1 1/2 lengths in a Delaware Park stakes to eventual Frizette and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Jaywalk, won a Laurel Park optional claimer by 14 lengths, and romped by 6 3/4 lengths at Laurel in the $100,000 Smart Halo Stakes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Lexington racing fans will need to adjust their calendar settings in preparation for next spring: The ever-popular Keeneland meet will start on a Thursday for the first time in more than 50 years.
Keeneland has moved the opening day to Thursday, April 4, from the traditional Friday opener in order to make up for the day it will lose during the spring meet to Easter, when Keeneland is closed. Easter next year is April 21. The spring meet, which closes on April 26, will be 16 days next year as a result, rather than the usual 15.
The Mark Casse barn won recent Fair Grounds races with two promising 2-year-old turf horses, and a 2-year-old dirt horse of interest also is bound for the Casse string in New Orleans.
Moon Colony, an Uncle Mo colt owner John Oxley paid $400,000 to acquire at auction, stalked and pounced on a slow pace to win a first-level two-turn turf allowance race by two lengths on Nov. 29. On Dec. 9, the Stonestreet Stables homebred colt Philosophy caught the eye capturing a turf-sprint maiden race by nearly six lengths.
