ARCADIA, Calif. – Om made his mark as a 3-year-old in 2015, winning three graded stakes on turf at Del Mar and Santa Anita. Since then, Om is winless in 12 starts, including a nose loss in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in 2016.
While there are no recent wins, there are no plans to give up on the 6-year-old, who could go past the seven-figure mark in earnings with a win in Saturday’s Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes for turf milers at Santa Anita.
Lewisfield improved his record to four wins from six starts with an emphatic 6 3/4-length optional-claiming win at Laurel Park last Saturday, blazing six furlongs in 1:08.95 over a not particularly glib track and earning a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
Trainer Jeff Runco, winner of more than 4,000 races, vanned the 4-year-old Maryland-bred son of Great Notion back to his Charles Town stable that evening.
It’s been a chaotic year in the Laurel Park jockey colony, with injuries sidelining the most established riders and opening doors for others. At the winter meet that began Jan. 1, Jorge Vargas Jr., newly relocated from Parx Racing, has seized the opportunity and ridden 16 winners, twice as many as his nearest competitor.
In addition to a horse that tested positive for equine herpesvirus (EHV1) and was euthanized last week, two more Thoroughbreds in a quarantined barn at Turfway Park have since tested positive for the virus. Arrangements are being made to remove the two horses from Turfway, according to a statement from Kentucky Department of Agriculture officials.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher took the positive approach when asked about catching no less an opponent than Mind Your Biscuits when he brings his undefeated One Liner back from a nearly yearlong layoff in Friday’s outstanding $53,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.
“I wasn’t excited to see Mind Your Biscuits in the race when the overnight came out,” said Pletcher. “But then again, they might not have been too excited to see One Liner in there, either.”
It’s early, of course, but the Triple Crown trailhead has a whole slew of Steve Asmussen-trained 3-year-olds geared up and ready to start the trek, and Asmussen on Monday furthered the process of sorting out their respective journeys.
Principe Guilherme and Snapper Sinclair, the two-three finishers Jan. 13 in the Lecomte Stakes, both worked five furlongs on Monday at Fair Grounds and will start Feb. 17 in the Risen Star Stakes, Asmussen said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Steve Asmussen sent out a pair of impressive 3-year-old winners last week at Oaklawn in Mitole and Title Ready, and both could be headed to stakes competition. Mitole won a maiden special weight sprint with a Beyer Speed Figure of 96 on Saturday, and Title Ready conquered two turns in his first attempt in a deep allowance race Feb. 1.
Mitole was a 10-length winner, covering six furlongs in 1:09.75. One race earlier, older sprinters in the $125,000 King Cotton covered the same distance in 1:09.85.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn leading trainer Brad Cox flexed some of the barn’s 3-year-old muscle over the weekend with Classic Empire’s half-brother Exclamation Point winning his debut Saturday and Cheponera punching her ticket to the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee with an authoritative allowance victory Friday.
Exclamation Point won a maiden special weight over six furlongs by 2 1/2 lengths. He covered the distance in 1:10.59 and for the effort earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 77. Cox said the horse could run back in the middle of March.
Veteran jockey Jamie Theriot will move his tack to the island nation of Mauritius following the completion of the Fair Grounds meeting, Theriot recently told Fair Grounds publicity staff.
Theriot has a contract to ride in Mauritius, which sits about 1,200 miles off the southeast coast of Africa, for an established trainer named Ramapatee Gujadhur. Theriot, 39, said he plans to ride the entire Mauritius racing season and return to the United States next fall.
Yockey’s Warrior has been doing so well the last few months that he has trainer and part-owner Al Stall thinking long-term.
With an eye toward important stakes throughout the year – perhaps even including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, if Yockey’s Warrior continues thriving – Stall is taking it easy right now with the leading sprinter stabled at Fair Grounds.
