HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Fernando De La Cruz took a chance when he moved from Tampa Bay Downs to Oaklawn for the winter, and the risk has been rewarded. De La Cruz was tied for fifth in the Oaklawn standings through Thursday, and has been aboard a host of quality winners for leading trainer Brad Cox.
De La Cruz, 31, committed to Oaklawn after conversations with his brother, jockey Walter De La Cruz, who had been a regular at Oaklawn, and Tony King, an agent who now represents him at Oaklawn.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer David Donk has won his last five races at Aqueduct, going 3 for 3 last Sunday after winning with his final two runners the previous day.
Donk knows his streak won’t last forever and could very well end Sunday, when he sends out Pragmatist in a maiden $30,000 claimer at Aqueduct. Pragmatist is winless in four starts and takes another step down the claiming ladder in this 6 1/2-furlong race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Enticed, the beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park last month, worked five furlongs in 1:01.85 Friday morning at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida, his final serious move before he starts in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct next Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Martin Garcia will soon resume riding in California after spending most of the last four months riding in New York.
Garcia, 33, may ride at Santa Anita as early as Thursday, his new agent, Vince DeGregory, told Santa Anita publicity.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Pavel, a troubled fourth in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes here on Feb. 3, will skip the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 10 and be pointed for the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 31, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Thursday.
O’Neill may still have a presence in the $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap, the track’s most prominent race for older horses. Curlin Road, unraced since a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic last August, is possible for the Big Cap, which is run at 1 1/4 miles.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The $100,000 Tiznow Stakes for California-bred milers will not be run this year because of insufficient entries. The race was scheduled for Sunday but drew only four entrants on Thursday – Image of Joplin, Smokey Image, Solid Wager, and Summersimage.
Two prominent members of the division were among the 10 nominees but were not entered.
He Will, the winner of the restricted Lure Stakes at Del Mar last fall, recently sustained an injury that will keep him out of training for several months, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Luis Saez, the leading jockey at the championship meet, will serve a three-day suspension next week stemming from a riding infraction in the first race here Wednesday, when his mount, Our Independence, was disqualified from second to fifth for interference in midstretch. Saez will sit out Wednesday through Friday before returning to the saddle Saturday.
Saez entered Friday action with 103 wins, well ahead of runner-up Tyler Gaffalione (67) and third-place Irad Ortiz Jr. (66). Saez was the leading rider at the 2016-17 championship meet with 102 wins.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Ayacara closed with interest to finish second in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Feb. 3 in his 3-year-old debut. Next for Ayacara is the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes next Saturday, a key prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 7.
Ayacara will be a longshot in the race, expected to include the Grade 1 winners Bolt d’Oro and McKinzie. But Ayacara belongs in the race, according to trainer Keith Desormeaux.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Salty, who was competitive with the best 3-year-old fillies of 2017, likely will be pointed to the Grade 1 La Troienne on the May 4 Kentucky Oaks undercard after a successful return to action Thursday at Gulfstream. Mark Casse trains the Quality Road filly for Gary Barber and partners.
“I’d like to have something in between,” Casse said Friday morning. “Gary and I will have that conversation later on. She’s already a Grade 2 winner, and obviously the goal this year is to make her a Grade 1 winner.”
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Last year’s Triple Crown was won by three different horses, with Todd Pletcher trainees Always Dreaming (Derby) and Tapwrit (Belmont) bookending the Preakness win by Cloud Computing.
All three are on the comeback trail. Cloud Computing, trained by Chad Brown, has had a couple of three-furlong works at Palm Meadows on consecutive Sundays, and Brown said he is targeting the Grade 3, $200,000 Westchester Stakes at Belmont on May 5 as Cloud Computing’s ideal return spot.
