The West Virginia Racing Commission on Monday voted 3-0 to approve the $1.2 million purse of the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic and the track’s 2018 stakes schedule. The decision came 13 days after the commission voted 2-0 to limit the Classic purse to $300,000.
The West Virginia Racing Commission is a three-person panel consisting of chairman Jack Rossi and commissioners Ken Lowe and Anthony Figaretti.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Untamed Domain could make his dirt debut in the March 10 Tampa Bay Derby as he attempts to enter the Kentucky Derby picture following a decent third-place finish as the 6-5 favorite Saturday in the Dania Beach Stakes on the Gulfstream turf.
“Right now, Tampa is our choice,” said Terry Finley, president of the colt’s ownership group, West Point Thoroughbreds.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Strike Power passed another test with flying colors by winning the Swale Stakes last weekend at Gulfstream Park. Now comes deeper water for a 3-year-old colt who has earned the right to give the Kentucky Derby trail a try.
Trainer Mark Hennig said the March 3 Fountain of Youth could be the next start for Strike Power after the chestnut Speightstown colt led all the way in a dominating 2 3/4-length victory here Saturday under leading jockey Luis Saez in the Grade 3 Swale at seven furlongs. The Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth goes at 1 1/16 miles.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017, will be heavily favored in her 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Unique Bella has started once at this meeting, winning the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at seven furlongs for 3-year-old fillies on the Dec. 26 opening-day program.
In the $200,000 Santa Maria, Unique Bella is expected to face Gratzie, Majestic Heat, Mopotism, and Shenandoah Queen.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Dream Tree will start the spring with a perfect record and a growing reputation in the 3-year-old filly division.
Dream Tree won her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile Sunday at Santa Anita. Sent off at 3-10, Dream Tree had a perfect trip before pulling clear to win by 3 3/4 lengths for her third stakes win.
Last fall, she won the minor Desi Arnaz Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar in November and the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Los Alamitos in December.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The racing week of Feb. 1-4 at Santa Anita was very kind to jockey Rajiv Maragh.
After winning with two of his first 57 mounts at the winter-spring meeting that began Dec. 26, Maragh rebounded to win four races from 11 mounts last week.
The turnaround has left Maragh on the verge of cracking the top 10 on a tough jockey’s roster. Through Sunday, Maragh was tied for 11th with five other riders.
This is the first year Maragh has ridden in Southern California, having relocated from New York in December.
Jockey Dylan Davis enjoyed his best day as a professional rider Sunday, winning five races from eight mounts on the nine-race Aqueduct card.
It was Davis’s first five-win day on the New York Racing Association circuit. On June 28, 2013, as an apprentice, Davis won five races at Indiana Grand Race Course.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher said Audible came out of his stunning, one-sided victory in Saturday’s Holy Bull in good order, but admitted even he was a little surprised at the ease of his rapidly improving 3-year-old's win in the Grade 2, Kentucky Derby prep.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Joe Bravo said Avery Island is a physically talented colt who still has more to learn. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said he may give Avery Island two more starts to get the education necessary for the Kentucky Derby.
Avery Island made a successful 3-year-old debut Saturday at Aqueduct, winning the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes by two lengths over multiple stakes winner Firenze Fire. McLaughlin said Sunday morning that Avery Island came out of the race in good shape and would return to the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida on Tuesday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A busy 2018 has put Lombo on the Triple Crown trail after a front-running win in Saturday’s Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.
Lombo won his second consecutive race in his third start of the young year in the $151,380 Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. A colt who began 2018 as a maiden has quickly developed into a graded stakes winner.
