Four-time stakes winner Muth worked a half-mile in 47.40 seconds on Monday at Santa Anita, moving closer to a scheduled start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
The exercise was Muth’s first workout since the 3-year-old colt finished last of six in the Grade 1 California Crown on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita, a loss trainer Bob Baffert described a day later as leaving him “very puzzled.”
Keeneland-based multiple graded stakes winner Gear Jockey has been retired, according to Lyndsay Delello, assistant trainer to Rusty Arnold. Delello posted on social media that the 7-year-old horse, a Calumet Farm homebred, retires “sound and healthy.”
Gear Jockey put together a record of 27-5-2-6 and earned more than $1.6 million, winning two graded stakes and placing in five others. He was most recently 12th in the Grade 2 Woodford on Oct. 5.
While Keeneland’s fall meet is front-loaded with its major stakes to provide well-timed Breeders’ Cup preps, eight stakes still remain on this fall schedule, beginning with the Grade 2, $350,000 Raven Run and Grade 3, $300,000 Perryville on Saturday, and the Grade 3, $300,000 Dowager on Sunday.
Next Friday, Keeneland cards the Grade 2, $350,000 Valley View and the $200,000 Myrtlewood. On closing day, Saturday, Oct. 26, the highlights are the Grade 2, $350,000 Fayette, Grade 3, $600,000 Bryan Station, and $200,000 Bowman Mill.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hot Fudge, a three-time listed stakes-winning female sprinter, is cataloged to be sold at the Keeneland November sale and was scheduled to leave trainer Linda Rice’s Belmont Park barn on Monday.
Hot Fudge, a 5-year-old daughter of Liam’s Map, reeled off consecutive stakes victories in the Garland of Roses, Interborough, and Correction during the winter at Aqueduct. While she hasn’t won since, Hot Fudge did finish third in the Bed o’ Roses and Vagrancy. She had a record of 8-1-4 from 18 starts and earned $577,105.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A plan hatched roughly 18 months ago will come to fruition for Amelia Green next month when the current assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher begins training on her own.
Green, 31, a former jockey, has worked for Pletcher for about seven years. She has been an exercise rider, foreman, and traveling assistant. She has been on and/or worked with such notable runners as Life Is Good, Malathaat, Nest, and Audible just to name a few.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Back from Newmarket where he purchased two well-bred yearlings at last week’s Tattersalls auction, trainer Tom Morley is making plans for some of his current stable stars.
Donegal Momentum, who won the Gio Ponti Stakes on Oct. 3 at Aqueduct, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Hill Prince Stakes on Nov. 9 at Aqueduct. There is a chance he could be re-routed to the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 30 at Del Mar.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown won both graded stakes run over the weekend at Aqueduct, but there were two other winners he had who may have overshadowed those successes.
Brown won juvenile maiden races with Keewaydin, a son of Instagrand, and Fully Subscribed, a daughter of Tiz the Law. Those horses are now likely stakes-bound in the coming months.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gun Song, who came within a neck of upsetting Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes on Sept. 21 at Parx Racing, is pointing to the Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose on Oct. 26 at Aqueduct, trainer Mark Hennig said.
On Friday at Belmont, Gun Song worked a half-mile in 49 seconds over the training track.
“Just kind of a first work back kind of thing, hopefully come back next week and do a little more, but she’s pretty fit right now,” Hennig said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When it comes to where he is going to prepare his horses for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, trainer Todd Pletcher said he is staying put.
Instead of assembling all his horses at Keeneland, which he did a year ago ahead of a trip to Southern California, Pletcher will have his potential runners for this year’s Breeders’ Cup event based at three different venues until they ship out later this month. This year’s Breeders’ Cup will be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Well, this is a new one.
Friday’s nine-race Aqueduct card was canceled due to air quality issues after Resorts World, which operates the casino adjacent to Aqueduct, retreated the facility’s entire roof. The smell from the chemicals was stifling, particularly on the upper level where racing officials - including the stewards, the teletimer operator, placing judges and Equibase personnel - are located.
