Jockeys Dalton Brown, Sofia Vives, and Eric Cancel were each sanctioned by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority for whip violations.
Brown, who was cited for hitting a horse 12 times – six more times than permitted – was fined $1,000 and given a three-day suspension that began last Saturday and concludes Friday. Some of those whip strikes were slaps on the shoulder while Brown did not maintain his hands on the reins at neck level, according to NYRA steward Victor Escobar.
Phileas Fogg, the eight-length winner of the Queens County on Dec. 29, worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 on Wednesday morning over the Belmont Park training track as he prepares for a start in the $150,000 Excelsior Stakes on April 5.
Claimed by Gus Rodriguez for $62,500 on July 13, Phileas Fogg has won 3 of 4 starts for Rodriguez and Jupiter Stable. He had a three-race winning streak snapped in a no-condition allowance race Jan. 25, when he was beaten a neck by Curbstone.
Jockeys Francisco Martinez and Jorge Vargas Jr. are working toward returns to the saddle after sustaining injuries in a spill at Parx Racing last month. Both riders are receiving treatment and hope to return to racing in May.
Martinez and Vargas were unseated in the third race on Feb. 5 at Parx. Vargas was riding 5-year-old mare Sudoku Terry when the horse fell on the first turn, causing a spill that took down Martinez and 4-year-old filly Alma Brilha.
Latta, a 4-year-old colt based in Pennsylvania, has been surprising trainer Jacinto Solis in all the right ways. After an eye-popping 10 1/4-length victory in an allowance at Parx Racing on March 12, Solis must now figure out the next step for a colt that has suddenly become one of the hottest runners in the state.
Quint’s Brew, a two-time stakes winner in Ned Allard’s barn, completed an encouraging five-furlong workout Wednesday morning at Delaware Park. Allard is pointing the colt toward the Grade 2 Carter at Aqueduct, a massive step up for the rising star.
“He had a very nice breeze,” Allard said. “Galloped out strong, went very well.”
East Avenue will attempt to bounce back from a deflating 3-year-old bow at the scene of his finest moment, Keeneland, where he starts April 5 in the Blue Grass Stakes.
Brendan Walsh, who trains East Avenue for his breeder, Godolphin, said the colt would start either in the Blue Grass or in the March 22 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, where East Avenue has spent the winter and continues to train. And when East Avenue’s name wasn’t among the Louisiana Derby entries when the field was assembled this past Saturday, it became apparent that connections had chosen the Blue Grass.
Notably absent from the overflow field entered for Saturday’s Tom Benson Memorial Stakes, a turf route for older fillies and mares, was Nanda Dea, who would have been favored had she run.
A champion miler in Argentina, Nanda Dea won her North American debut last fall in a Keeneland allowance race. In her second start for trainer Ignacio Correas, she overcame significant trouble to capture the Albert Stall Memorial last month.
The road to Louisville runs through Hot Springs for the 3-year-old filly Simply Joking.
After missing an intended start on Feb. 15 in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds, Simply Joking wasn’t entered for the March 22 Fair Grounds Oaks and instead will run March 29 in the $750,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park.
Trainer Whit Beckman said on Sunday that he’ll ship Simply Joking along with the 4-year-old Honor Marie, who’s set to race for the first time since August in the restricted American Pharoah Stakes on the same card.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Unraced since a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar last November, Gold Phoenix is scheduled to start in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita.
The 7-year-old Gold Phoenix has performed well enough in recent works to convince trainer Phil D’Amato to aim for the $100,000 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf.
“He’s breezed sensationally,” D’Amato said Sunday. “I’ve had four or five good five-eighths in him. For an old veteran, I haven’t seen him as sharp as he has been in these drills.”
Four of trainer Bob Baffert’s leading 3-year-olds worked at Santa Anita on Monday, including Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024. They are all expected to start in leading stakes in the buildup to the Triple Crown in coming weeks.
Citizen Bull, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar in November, and the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 1, worked six furlongs in 1:12 for a likely start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
