ARCADIA, Calif. - A filly starting in California for the first time and a jockey who began riding on this circuit only last year reached milestone wins in Saturday’s Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at Santa Anita.
Fault, who joined trainer Phil D’Amato’s stable last month, rallied on the rail to win the $201,380 Buena Vista Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf, giving jockey Geovanni Franco his first stakes win in California on a day he won three consecutive races.
McCarthy said Paved also would be nominated to the Grade 3, $150,000 Providencia Stakes, also on April 7 at Santa Anita.
NEW ORLEANS – Bravazo and Snapper Sinclair, longshots both, were separated by a short nose Saturday in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, and they probably will meet again here March 24 in the $1 million Louisiana Derby.
Also likely for the Louisiana Derby is Risen Star third-place finisher Noble Indy, but plans are fluid for Instilled Regard, who was fourth as the 7-5 favorite.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Steve Asmussen has three starters in the Southwest, including a gray son of Tapit invading from Fair Grounds.
Last year, an Asmussen trainee who fit that profile was Creator, who used his late run to win the Arkansas Derby and Belmont Stakes. This year, that prospect is Zing Zang.
“By pedigree, color and style, we’re hoping he’s Creator,” said Asmussen, who trains Zing Zang for Jackpot Farm.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The 3-year-old action at Oaklawn on Monday does not stop with the running of the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes. It carries over into the final race on the card, when Zulfikhar, New York Central, and Transgress meet in an optional $62,500 claiming race over 1 1/16 miles.
It’s the sort of race that could produce starters for next month’s Rebel at Oaklawn.
If the road to the March 24 Louisiana Derby were a double-elimination tournament, the featured eighth race Monday at Fair Grounds would be a game in the losers’ bracket.
While the top 3-year-old prospects to race at Fair Grounds were set to get their game on Saturday in the Risen Star Stakes, Monday’s first-level allowance race, carded for one mile and 70 yards on dirt, is for sophomores not quite up to Risen Star snuff. Make no mistake, though, there are promising horses among the nine entrants.
George R. “Rusty” Arnold, the Kentucky-based trainer, will have to disperse his horses during a 90-day suspension recently handed down by Kentucky’s stewards for two positives for the banned drug ractopamine dating from 2016, according to the stewards’ ruling and the trainer.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Mourinho may be making his first start on a wet track Monday, when he will be the probable favorite in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
“The only time he gets his feet wet is on the wash rack,” joked his Southern California-based trainer, Bob Baffert.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Apprentice jockey Franklin Ceballos has been suspended three days from Feb. 23-25 for failing to ride Stole My ‘Art to the finish of the eighth race at Santa Anita on Feb. 11.
In a ruling issued Thursday, the board of stewards ruled that Ceballos’s action cost his mount a better placing. Stole My ‘Art finished sixth in a $6,250 claiming race at a mile, missing fifth place by a half-length. He was passed by Liar’s Smoker for fifth place in the final furlong.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Dalmore’s emphatic win in an optional claimer at Santa Anita on Thursday has trainer Keith Desormeaux thinking of starting him in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 10.
In his first start since July, Dalmore ($11.80) led throughout Thursday’s race at 1 1/16 miles under jockey Kent Desormeux to win by 8 1/2 lengths over Cat Burglar.
