Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Gun Runner put in a major work at his Fair Grounds base Sunday as he continues preparations for the $16 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park.
Also working at Fair Grounds for the Pegasus was Clark Handicap winner Seeking the Soul. The Grade 1 Pegasus is a 1 1/8-mile race.
Gun Runner drilled six furlongs in company in a bullet 1:10.60, with Fair Grounds clockers catching him galloping out seven-eighths in 1:24.40 and a mile in 1:39.20.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Peace won a maiden race against 2-year-olds Saturday, and trainer Richard Mandella is looking forward to running him in major stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Peace won his third start, and first at 1 1/16 miles, in Saturday’s second race. Ridden by Mike Smith, Peace ($3.40) closed from fourth in the final three furlongs to finish three-quarters of a length in front of Regulate.
Peace left Mandella with the impression he is capable of greater improvement.
“I think he’s still learning,” Mandella said. “I’ve got hopes to dream bigger.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Both of Silent Bird’s stakes wins have come sprinting. But trainer Mark Glatt said he would like to try Silent Bird at two turns later in 2018.
“I wouldn’t mind trying to run him at a flat mile,” Glatt said. “We haven’t been able to string enough races together to run two turns.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - After a hectic 2017 that included starts at seven tracks, Daddys Lil Darling earned a vacation after her win in Saturday’s Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita.
Trainer Ken McPeek said Daddys Lil Darling will have a 45-day rest in south Florida before she resumes training for a 4-year-old season in 2018.
"We’ll point for the spring, maybe something at Keeneland,” he said.
Laurel Park canceled its final three races Saturday after two horses fell during the gallop-outs of their respective races.
Renaissance Rosie, the runner-up in race 5, the $75,000 Politely Stakes, fell after the finish, throwing jockey Julian Pimentel. Renaissance Rosie got to her feet after the incident, ran off and was caught. Pimentel, also walked away from the accident but was taken to the hospital for precautionary X-rays due to soreness in his chest area. All of the tests came back negative and he was released, according to his agent, Roniel Gerardo
Quezon and Absatootly, who traded stakes decisions in their last two starts, both put in workouts Saturday morning at Belmont Park in preparation for a start in next Saturday’s $100,000 La Verdad Stakes at Aqueduct.
Quezon, who won the Garland of Roses on Dec. 9 after finishing third behind Absatootly in the Iroquois on Oct. 21, worked a half-mile in 49.60 seconds. Absatootly, who finished third in the Iroquois, worked a half-mile in 46.68.
“That was too fast,” trainer Charlton Baker said of the work in which the opening quarter went in 22.79.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita is introducing a new condition for maidens in Monday’s sixth race. The six-furlong race is restricted to 3-year-old maidens who were bred by their owners or were purchased for $100,000 or less at auction.
The race was well-supported, with 11 entrants – 10 purchased at auction for prices ranging from $18,000 to $75,000 and one homebred.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup race winners Roy H and Stormy Liberal are being pointed to races in February at Santa Anita, trainer Peter Miller said.
Roy H, who won the BC Sprint on Nov. 4 at Del Mar, is scheduled to start in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes on Feb. 3. The $200,000 Palos Verdes is run at six furlongs.
Roy H has had a pair of three-furlong workouts in recent weeks to begin preparation for a 2018 campaign.
“We’re right on schedule for the Palos Verdes,” Miller said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The parent company of the San Luis Rey Downs training center that was partially destroyed by a devastating wildfire Dec. 7 has solicited bids for the reconstruction of stables, but has not set a timetable on completion of the project.
Santa Anita chairman Keith Brackpool said Friday that conversations are taking place with horsemen’s groups and Del Mar regarding the short-term future of San Luis Rey Downs. Santa Anita and San Luis Rey Downs are owned by The Stronach Group.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association and the Jockeys’ Guild on Friday reached agreement in principle on a new contract that will avert a threatened strike by the Aqueduct riding colony.
Details of the new agreement were not released. The Jockeys’ Guild sought a three-year contract from NYRA for payments that go toward paying health and insurance benefits for those jockeys who ride regularly at NYRA’s three tracks – Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga. The Guild did not seek an increase in payments for 2018, but did want a 1 percent increase in 2019 and 2020.
