Jockey Richard Eramia said that after the Remington Park meet ends Dec. 17 he will base at Oaklawn Park, which opens in January. Eramia, who ranks second in the standings at Remington Park, said it will be the first time he has ridden a full meet at Oaklawn.
“I want to stay around here, Lone Star, Remington and Oaklawn,” said Eramia, who lives near Dallas.
The owner-trainer team of Jim Helzer and Sleepy Gilbreath reached the heights of the Quarter Horse world with a number of top-class horses, led by Refrigerator. But last week, their roles were reversed at Remington Park.
The Gilbreath homebred So Long Tiger won a maiden race for 2-year-old Thoroughbreds, and the trainer was Jim Helzer.
“I got old Jim Helzer training for me,” Gilbreath said. “I trained for him for 30-something years!”
Conquest Mo Money could return to racing as early as next spring, with his long-range objective the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, co-owner Tom McKenna said Monday.
Conquest Mo Money last raced in May, finishing seventh in the Preakness. He was injured in a June workout and now is based at the New Mexico farm McKenna owns with his wife, Sandra.
“We’ll bring him back, probably late Sunland Park or Albuquerque,” McKenna said of the meets at home in New Mexico. “We’re just starting very light training with him.”
MIAMI – Ralph Nicks learned what it was like to work with champions during his 13-year tenure as an assistant to trainer Bill Mott. Now it appears Nicks has a champion of his own, Caledonia Road, following her eye-catching victory at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
MIAMI – Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. recently announced his intention to return to his roots and race year round in south Florida in 2018. He celebrated that decision on Saturday in the winner’s circle at his old stomping grounds, Gulfstream Park West (formerly known at Calder Race Course), following Mr. Jordan’s 11 1/2-length victory in the Sunshine Millions Classic Preview.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Aheadbyacentury finished off his 2-year-old campaign with a two-length win over Neepawa in the Coronation Futurity on Nov. 5, and will head to Florida for the winter to train in preparation for next year’s Queen’s Plate, trainer John Ross said.
“That makes four races for him and that was the plan I had for him,” he said. “We’re going to take him to Florida and have a great winter. All of those things help, and if you treat them right, there’s a good chance of having a real good horse for the Queen’s Plate. I’m hoping.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Graham Motion bases his stable at the tranquil Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., but also is quite comfortable at the urban tracks of New York.
On Saturday at Aqueduct, Motion won his 12th graded stakes of the year, and his second at the Big A within a week. Four of Motion’s graded victories this season have come in New York, including his two richest – the Grade 1 Manhattan and the Grade 2 Wood Memorial.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Shaman Ghost is back on the workout tab for trainer Jimmy Jerkens after a tie-back throat procedure in August to help him breathe more efficiently.
A two-time Grade 1 winner, Shaman Ghost has earned more than $2.5 million this season from four starts.
Shaman Ghost finished second to Arrogate in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January. He then won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and Grade 3 Pimlico Special in March and May. In his most recent start, he was second to Keen Ice in the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont Park in July.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Forever Unbridled, whose victory in the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar surely clinched a divisional Eclipse Award, returned to training Saturday at Churchill.
“I think you can take on the world with her, that’s how good she is,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.
Stewart said that owner-breeder Charles Fipke “has really laid out a nice plan for her moving forward if she stays healthy.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Horseplayers who saw Auntie’s the One win a $65,000 maiden-special race last month at Keeneland may be surprised to see the 3-year-old entered for the same condition Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
A post-race urine test found Auntie’s the One to have metabolites of naproxen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication illegal for race day. It’s a Class C medication that mandated the Kentucky stewards disqualify the filly from the Oct. 19 race, with the purse redistributed accordingly and trainer Ken McPeek fined $500 without being suspended.
