Wed, 04/04/2018 - 15:00

Pepe Tono's people pay to play in Santa Anita Derby

Shigeki Kikkawa
Pepe Tono wins a Jan. 19 maiden race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Pepe Tono, who has been 10-1 or higher in his four starts and was sixth in his only stakes appearance, was supplemented to Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Wednesday.

The supplemental fee was $20,000. There is an additional $15,000 in entry and starting fees.

“That hurts,” said trainer Victor Garcia.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:46

Rodriguez enters three in Excelsior Stakes

Annette Jasko/NYRA
Control Group's win in the Mr. Sinatra clinched the winter meet training title for Rudy Rodriguez.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rudy Rodriguez trains three of the seven horses entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at 1 1/8 miles.

Control Group, who just won the Mr. Sinatra last Saturday at Aqueduct, would be wheeling back in a week after having his last two races spaced two months apart. Wild About Deb, who won a first-level allowance race here on March 3, and Admiral Blue, fourth in the Henry E. Johnson Memorial at Laurel on March 17, also were entered by Rodriguez.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:46

Supreme Aura going back to one turn

Amanda Hodges Weir/Hodges Photography
Supreme Aura, unbeaten around one turn, is to run next in the April 12 Bachelor at Oaklawn.

Trainer Michael Stidham has sent Supreme Aura to Oaklawn for the $150,000 Bachelor on April 12. The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds kicks off the annual Racing Festival of the South, when Oaklawn runs seven major stakes over the final week of its meet, which ends April 14. Stidham said Gary Stevens has the mount in the Bachelor.

Supreme Aura will be cutting back to one turn – where he is unbeaten – after running ninth going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 2 Risen Star Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:46

Engage getting year started in Bay Shore Stakes

Joe Labozzetta/NYRA
Engage rallied from last and drew clear by 3 1/2 lengths in Saturday's Grade 3 Futurity at Belmont Park.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Engage, the winner of the Grade 3 Futurity at Belmont last October, makes his 2018 debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs.

Trainer Chad Brown shut Engage down following the Futurity, his second win from three starts at 2. Engage, a son of Into Mischief, has had eight workouts at the Palm Meadows training center leading up to his return.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:46

Midnight Disguise back at better distance in Gazelle Stakes

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Midnight Disguise earned 50 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks for her victory in Saturday's Busher Stakes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Midnight Disguise will go for her third consecutive stakes victory and her first in a graded event when she heads a field of six entered for Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Midnight Disguise is stretching back out to 1 1/8 miles, the distance at which she might have run her best race when she took the Busanda here on Jan. 25. The big, long-striding filly won the Busher going a one-turn mile here on March 3.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:40

Army Mule taking big step up in Carter Handicap

Lauren King/Coglianese Photos
Army Mule earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure for his comeback race in January.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – He has raced only twice but has been brilliant both times. If Army Mule is going to run that way again, his connections want him to do it in an important race.

That is why despite having only two races under his belt, Army Mule will run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. The Carter, contested at seven furlongs, drew a field of 11 and is one of four undercard stakes on the 11-race Wood Memorial program that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:10

Indexical returns Friday at Oaklawn

Shigeki Kikkawa
Indexical returns from a lengthy layoff in Friday's eighth race at Oaklawn.

Indexical, who in 2016 ran second to Lord Nelson in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar, will make his first start for owner Danny Caldwell and trainer Federico Villafranco in Friday’s eighth race at Oaklawn. He has not raced since being haltered by his current connections out of a $30,000 claimer last May at Prairie Meadows. Friday’s optional $45,000 claiming sprint is for 4-year-olds and up over six furlongs, and the field of nine also includes Grade 3 winner Guns Loaded and top Iowa-bred One Fine Dream.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 14:06

Sounds Delicious may face a duel in Distaff Handicap

Viola Jasko/NYRA
Sounds Delicious earned a 97 Beyer for her eight-length win in the Correction Stakes on March 17.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association can’t actually wait for the weather to change, because by the time it does, the Aqueduct spring meet might be over.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 13:56

Exercise rider Valenzuela unlikely to walk again

ARCADIA, Calif. – Exercise rider Adrian Valenzuela underwent surgery to stabilize his spinal cord on Tuesday after suffering a devastating injury in a spill at Santa Anita on Saturday morning that left him partially paralyzed, according to his father, Martin Valenzuela.

Martin Valenzuela said his son was scheduled to be taken out of intensive care at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., on Wednesday but does not have a favorable long-term prognosis.

Wed, 04/04/2018 - 13:46

Del Mar boosts incentives for out-of-state shippers

Del Mar will increase appearance bonuses for out-of-state shippers who meet certain criteria for the track’s two race meetings this year.

The owner of a horse who made his previous start at other circuits or outside the United States and has not started in California in the preceding 12 months will be paid a $2,000 bonus for the horse’s first start at Del Mar. First-time starters are not eligible.