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.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Apprentice rider Luis Reyes was released from Jamaica Hospital on Saturday night after having gone down in an ugly spill in the second race at Aqueduct earlier in the day.
Blake Dutrow, Reyes's agent, confirmed that Reyes had escaped the fall with no fractured bones.
Reyes was aboard Hy Brasil, who was rallying to contention in the stretch of the one-mile grass race for $40,000 claimers when he broke down in his right front, throwing Reyes forward to the turf. Hy Brasil, who was euthanized after the race, may have kicked Reyes when he went past.
Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Sharp Azteca will be pointed to the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 2, trainer Jorge Navarro said Friday evening.
Sharp Azteca joins what is shaping up as a deep field for the Cigar Mile. Others pointing to the race include Breeders' Cup Sprint third-place finisher Mind Your Biscuits; Practical Joke, who is undefeated in races around one turn; Bold Ruler winner Tom's Ready; Fayette runner-up Neolithic; and Summer Revolution.
Proud and Fearless will attempt to give trainer Larry Jones his second win in five runnings of the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks later this month. Jones captured the race in 2014 with Cassatt.
The Zia Park Oaks is the richest Thoroughbred offering of the Hobbs, N.M., meet. It is being showcased on a Nov. 22 card of nine stakes. The annual Land of Enchantment program is worth $1.2 million, with six of the stakes for Thoroughbreds and three for Quarter Horses.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When trainer Al Stall Jr. leaves Monday for his hometown of New Orleans, it will be with arguably his top four horses having won their last starts here in Kentucky.
Money Flows (Wednesday) and Behavioral Bias (Thursday) were allowance winners here this week, while the undefeated C Z Rocket, an allowance winner Oct. 11 at Keeneland, could make his third career start on closing weekend of the Churchill meet. Yockey’s Warrior, an Oct. 22 allowance winner at Keeneland, is the other member of that talented foursome.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – McCraken has been declared from consideration for the Grade 1 Clark Handicap as a terrific cast otherwise takes shape for the showcase event of the Churchill Downs fall meet.
Trainer Ian Wilkes said he was not satisfied with a half-mile work Tuesday by McCraken, leading him to decide to turn out the colt until early next year.
“I don’t want to force anything upon him, so I think some time off will do him good,” Wilkes said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Skye Diamonds, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last week, will make her next start in late January in the Santa Monica, a seven-furlong graded stakes race for older female sprinters at Santa Anita, trainer Bill Spawr said Thursday.
Santa Anita has yet to release its stakes schedule for the winter meeting, but the Santa Monica usually is run in late January – it was run this year on Jan. 21 – and the timing suits Spawr, who likes to space Skye Diamonds’s races.
