Axelrod, a two-time Grade 3 winner in the summer who was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
“He’s training forwardly,” trainer Michael McCarthy said earlier this week. “He came out of his Breeders’ Cup in good shape.”
Axelrod was beaten eight lengths by winner Accelerate in the BC Classic at 1 1/4 miles, racing as close as fourth on the final turn.
Vasilika, whose eight-race winning streak ended with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar on Dec. 1, could have her first start of 2019 in the Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 21.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday that the $100,000 Megahertz at a mile on turf for fillies and mares is appealing because of the distance.
“We might look at that,” he said.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The promising sprinter Microrithms is not the most durable runner in trainer Bob Baffert’s stable, but he showed his brilliant speed at Los Alamitos on Thursday.
Microrithms won an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at six furlongs in 1:07.82 on a sloppy track, just missing the 2016 track record of 1:07.79 set by Toews On Ice.
The optional claimer was the second win in four starts for Microrithms, who races for David Israel, Michael and Nadia Sigband, and David Shaw.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A couple of talented 3-year-olds looking to get in one more stakes opportunity before the end of the season, Apostle and Heavenhasmynikki, topped the workout tab Friday at Gulfstream Park.
Apostle, with regular rider Edgard Zayas aboard, went five furlongs in 1:03.91, just coasting home over the deep and cuppy strip shortly after dawn. Several hours later, Heavenhasmynikki breezed a similarly easy half-mile in 51.03 in company with stablemate Indian Paint.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mihos, who overcame a wide trip to win his maiden by 1 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct on Nov. 24, will stretch out in distance for his next start, which could come in the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 5.
The Mucho Macho Man is run as a one-turn mile race.
Mihos, a son of Cairo Prince, finished third to Vekoma at Belmont in his debut. Vekoma came back to win the Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 4.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he will be riding at Gulfstream Park this Saturday, Jose Lezcano will be based at Aqueduct for the bulk of the winter, according to agent Jason Beides.
“More opportunities for us here,” he said. “Florida, there’s a logjam of riders. We could be just another jockey there or stay here and shine. We’ll take our best shot here.”
Beides said that Lezcano will have to go to Gulfstream during the winter to ride some stakes.
Lezcano had 10 wins from 82 mounts during Aqueduct’s fall season.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – True Timber, runner-up to Patternrecognition in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, will be considered for the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Wednesday.
McLaughlin is already in South Florida, but True Timber, beaten three-quarters of a length by Patternrecognition in the Cigar, is still at Belmont.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Oxy Lady arrived at Los Alamitos last weekend for Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet Stakes via a circuitous route that included races in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky prior to a surprise stakes win at Aqueduct on Nov. 2.
In the $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, Oxy Lady has a chance to show she belongs in the conversation regarding the top prospects for the 2019 season.
“She’s very much on the upswing,” trainer Jack Sisterson said on Wednesday from his base at Keeneland.
Delta Downs leading rider Timothy Thornton is closing out his best year on the track. He’s won 262 races from 1,000 mounts through Tuesday, which makes him one of the winningest riders in North America in 2018.
Thornton, along with Luis Quinones, trails only Irad Ortiz Jr., who had 322 wins on the year through Tuesday.
There’s a horse with a Cinderella story running in Friday night’s eighth race at Delta Downs: Mr. Al’s Gal.
She was a $1,000 purchase at auction as a yearling and has since won six stakes and earned $448,980. But, there are more layers to her tale.
Mr. Al’s Gal is named for the late father of her 35-year-old trainer, Justin Jeansonne. Al Jeansonne was a longtime owner and trainer who died in 2015.
