Mon, 11/27/2017 - 13:50

Small Bear to spend winter in Florida

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Small Bear returned $19.80 in winning the Gio Pointi Stakes at Aqueduct on Friday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Small Bear, neck winner of Saturday’s $150,000 Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct, will be among the 18 to 20 horses trainer Jeremiah Englehart will have in south Florida at the Palm Meadows training center for the upcoming winter meet.

Englehart said Small Bear would get a little down time in December before he starts cranking up for a potential start or two at Gulfstream Park. A race like the Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Turf going a mile March 3 could be a return spot for Small Bear.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 13:50

Comely Stakes romp puts Actress's name up in lights

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Actress finished 8 1/4 lengths best in Friday's Grade 3 Comely.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jason Servis hopes Actress can be a leading lady in the older filly and mare division in 2018, but he is not exactly sure when and where she will perform next.

Actress dominated Friday’s Grade 3 Comely Stakes by 8 1/4 lengths, earning a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure after running 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.66 over a dull Aqueduct main track. Actress wore blinkers for the first time in the Comely, and after breaking slowly, she put jockey Jose Ortiz in an up-close stalking position and still finished strong.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 13:20

Navarro wins three on Gulfstream Park West closing day

Bill Denver/Equi-Photo
Trainer Jorge Navarro has said he will apply for stalls for the Aqueduct meet that opens on Nov. 3.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jorge Navarro wasted little time serving notice he is looking for another big Gulfstream Park championship meet, posting a hat trick on Sunday’s closing-day program at Gulfstream Park West. Navarro’s three winners included a come-from-behind victory by Fire Mission, who registered his fourth consecutive tally in defeating a solid field of starter-allowance rivals going six furlongs.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 13:16

Gunnevera breezes for Harlan's Holiday

Barbara D. Livingston
Gunnevera will run in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup if his owner can secure a berth.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gunnevera, who finished in a dead heat for fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, had his first work back since returning from the West Coast, breezing an easy five furlongs in 1:02.18 on Sunday morning at Gulfstream Park West with jockey Edgard Zayas aboard.

Trainer Antonio Sano said he was very pleased with the move and that Gunnevera will close his 3-year-old campaign in the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday here Dec. 16 as a stepping-stone to the $16 million Pegasus World Cup six weeks later.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 13:10

Blonde Bomber eases her way back to work

Barbara D. Livingston
Blonde Bomber might make her 3-year-old debut in the Forward Gal at Gulfstream on Feb. 3.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was back to work, sort of, for Blonde Bomber on Monday morning at Gulfstream Park.

Breezing for the first time since her third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Blonde Bomber went an easy-as-can-be half-mile in 49.60 seconds shortly after the renovation break while being kept off the rail throughout to prevent her from doing too much. The work amounted to little more than a leg-stretcher to “keep her happy,” according to trainer Stanley Gold.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 12:36

Brocklebanks ordered by court to pay $385,000

Trainer John Brocklebank and his wife, Tarilynne, who holds an owner’s license, have been suspended after a Los Angeles Superior Court ordered them to pay a combined $385,558 in damages to owner Barbara Black involving the 2012 sale of the then-unraced filly Provenance.

The suspensions were announced in two rulings issued by Del Mar stewards on Saturday. Later that day, Brocklebank said he may have to declare bankruptcy.

“I can’t pay $385,000, and neither can Tari,” he said.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 12:36

Pacific Wind rides sharp optional-claiming win into Bayakoa

Benoit & Associates
Pacific Wind wins her dirt debut in an Oct. 21 optional claiming race at Santa Anita.

After five starts on turf, Pacific Wind ran on dirt for the first time Oct. 21, winning an optional claimer at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old filly will not go back to turf anytime soon.

Sunday at Los Alamitos, Pacific Wind will start in the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. The $200,000 Bayakoa will be Pacific Wind’s first start in a stakes against older fillies and mares.

Pacific Wind closed from fifth in the optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles to win by 1 3/4 lengths. That victory gave trainer Peter Eurton the confidence to start Pacific Wind in the Bayakoa.

Mon, 11/27/2017 - 12:06

Los Alamitos winter meeting gains Bayakoa Stakes, loses overnight money

Benoit & Associates
Los Alamitos three-week winter meet begins Thursday.

The decision to run the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes on Sunday at Los Alamitos has resulted in less purse money for overnight races for the entire three-week meeting, which begins Thursday and runs through Dec. 17.

The Bayakoa was in danger of not being run this year, but track officials and the Thoroughbred Owners of California agreed to hold the $200,000 race for fillies and mares at the winter meeting. To finance the Bayakoa, purses for some overnight races were reduced from the track’s winter meeting last December.

Sun, 11/26/2017 - 15:14

Daddy Is a Legend appears to have bright future

Benoit & Associates
Daddy Is a Legend gave jockey Joe Bravo his first Del Mar stakes win in Saturday's Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. – It may be well into 2018 before the exciting turf filly Daddy Is a Legend has her first start at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

Daddy Is a Legend won her stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar, closing seven lengths in the final quarter-mile to win by a length under jockey Joe Bravo.

Sun, 11/26/2017 - 15:04

Prime Attraction possible for Pegasus World Cup

Benoit & Associates
Prime Attraction returned $16 for his victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Prime Attraction, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar, will stay on dirt this winter and may even start in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January, trainer Jim Cassidy said on Sunday.

Cassidy said owner Deron Pearson mentioned the Pegasus World Cup as a possibility, although the $1 million nomination fee is a concern, he said. Cassidy said Pearson likely would seek a financial partner if the race is chosen.

“He would like to see someone dropping out that would partner up,” Cassidy said.