OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Colloquial ran the fastest Beyer Speed Figure earned by a 3-year-old this year, his connections are not looking to make him into a Kentucky Derby candidate.
Colloquial, who earned a 106 Beyer for his seven-length romp at Aqueduct in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race last Friday, will return to trainer George Weaver’s South Florida base at Palm Beach Downs this week and will likely be kept at one-turn races at least through the first half of the year.
ARCADIA, Calif. – On Sunday at Santa Anita, Straight No Chaser, the champion male sprinter of 2024, worked five furlongs in a quick 59 seconds. On Tuesday, Straight No Chaser was scheduled to be flown to Saudi Arabia for the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint on Feb. 22.
The difference in Sunday’s work compared to recent workouts was the presence of a stablemate, trainer Dan Blacker said.
“I gave him some company and gave him something to focus on,” Blacker said. Straight No Chaser “finished very well.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Accomplished in stakes on turf and dirt in a lengthy but disrupted career, There Goes Harvard, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita, could appear in a diverse list of races at Santa Anita this spring.
One short-term option is the Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf on March 22. Later in the spring, the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on dirt is a possibility and a race the 7-year-old horse won in 2022.
Colloquial’s return to the races was worth the wait.
Away since he was beaten a nose by Mentee in a five-furlong maiden race at Aqueduct in June, Colloquial returned to the races Friday at Aqueduct, winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race by seven lengths over One Nine Hundred. It was 12 lengths back to the third-place finisher Fanatical.
Mi Hermano Ramon, winner of the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar in November and fourth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25, is a probable starter in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita on March 1.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The renovation project at Belmont Park is on schedule, New York Racing Association officials said during a tour of the facility this week.
The foundation for the new, smaller building was poured about three weeks ago and the first pieces of steel for the five-story building, which is expected to be 275,000 square feet, could be put in starting in March.
Meanwhile, work on the four racing surfaces, including the new synthetic track, has been moving along, with the process of installing new drainage and irrigation systems the focal point of construction.
Nearly 32 months have passed since There Goes Harvard last won, in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on dirt at Santa Anita.
Two lengthy layoffs, including one caused by illness, has limited the 7-year-old to eight losses since that race in the spring of 2022.
Last year, There Goes Harvard was winless in five starts, with his brightest performance a second-place finish by a length in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in October.
The Texas Thoroughbred Association’s broodmare of the year Soft Music is set for a big February.
She is the dam of Too Much Kiki, the recently named TTA horse of the year who is set to launch her 4-year-old season in an allowance race Sunday at Sam Houston Race Park.
Later this month, Soft Music is scheduled to be bred to Annapolis, the son of War Front who was a Grade 1 winner of $1.5 million. He stands at Claiborne Farm. Soft Music is owned by Danele Durham, an Oaklawn-based trainer who has been named the TTA breeder of the year for 2024.
Santa Anita's handle increased for the first six weeks of its winter-spring meeting, track officials said on Wednesday.
Through Sunday, after 20 days of racing, all-sources handle exceeded $185.9 million, an increase of 7 percent over the corresponding meeting in 2023-2024, track officials said.
Trainer Brad Cox saddled a pair of notable older horses to separate wins on the Southwest undercard last month at Oaklawn Park and now both Kinetic and Bishops Bay could be bound for graded stakes action.
Kinetic won the $145,000 General MacArthur, a new overnight stakes for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, on Jan. 25 and is now 3 for 3 at the distance. Kinetic earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 91. One start prior, Kinetic had run second to Grade 1 winner Saudi Crown in the Tenacious at Fair Grounds.
