LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Jesus Castanon was back breezing horses Friday, one day after tumbling to the Churchill Downs turf when his mount in the eighth race, Good Offense, ducked out suddenly near the wire while seemingly on his way to victory and unseated him. He said he was sore but “pretty lucky” to have fallen outside of trailing horses.
Good Offense, a 2-year-old First Defense gelding owned by Amerman Racing, also avoided injury, trainer Paul McGee said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Two days into the Del Mar autumn meeting, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s stable had amassed three wins, including Thursday’s $102,580 Lure Stakes with He Will.
The results were quite a turnaround from the track’s summer meeting, when Hollendorfer won five races from 80 starters – and had 17 seconds.
“We didn’t do anything good at the other Del Mar meet,” Hollendorfer said on Thursday. “We had 17 seconds. We were putting them in the right spots.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Masochistic, a multiple stakes-winning sprinter, has resumed training after a summertime rest and is now based with a new trainer, Bob Baffert.
Baffert said last week that Masochistic was at Los Alamitos and would be transferred to Santa Anita in coming weeks.
DEL MAR, Calif. – After Sunday’s program, racing resumes at Del Mar on Friday and runs through the weekend. There are two stakes next weekend, including the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs on Saturday.
The $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes drew 14 nominations, and could produce a few runners for the Grade 1 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 9.
The New York Racing Association and Fox Sports 1 will team up for a live two-hour telecast of the 157th running of the Melbourne Cup on Monday.
The broadcast will air from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. Eastern, with the two-mile Melbourne Cup scheduled for 11 p.m. The show will feature studio analysis of Australia’s biggest race by Greg Wolf, Gabby Gaudet, and Tom Amoss.
The Melbourne Cup is run at Flemington Race Course and will go off at 3 p.m. local time Tuesday.
Tony Dutrow believes the effects of a long season have taken a toll on his 3-year-old turf horse Big Handsome, and on Tuesday he sent him to Ocala, Fla., for a 60-day vacation.
Big Handsome made his first three starts on dirt, but when Dutrow switched him to turf last March, the results were immediate. Big Handsome reeled off runaway maiden and allowance wins at Gulfstream Park and Belmont Park before winning the seven-furlong Paradise Creek at Belmont by 5 1/4 lengths.
Del Mar
Weather: Cloudy
Temp.: 65
Main track: Fast
Turf: Firm
DEL MAR, Calif. – After seeing an endless stream of Chad Brown and Bob Baffert-trained Breeders’ Cup contenders out on the track at Del Mar the previous couple of mornings, along came Team O’Brien to join them on Thursday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Firenze Fire is expected to run in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, despite having developed an elevated temperature Wednesday morning that had his connections somewhat concerned about him making the race.
Trainer Jason Servis said Firenze Fire had a temperature of 101.6 degrees on Wednesday, which was higher than his normal 100.5, one day after shipping in from New York. By Thursday morning, the temperature was down to 101.3.
Blood was taken from Firenze Fire on Wednesday and tests came back clean, Servis said.
When one door closed on Jon Lindo, another opened.
Lindo heads a partnership that in August 2016 dropped a $40,000 claim for Skye Diamonds, one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Just a week before, Lindo was laid off as an advertising representative by Daily Racing Form after 11 years on the job.
“Obviously we didn’t know the filly would turn out this good,” said Lindo. “But she had conditions we could run through and thought she might be okay. All she’s done is get better and better.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mick Ruis grew up in San Diego and remembers as a teenager attending the races at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico, with a friend.
“If we could ever save $3,000 to get a claimer at Caliente, our life would be fulfilled,” Ruis remembers the conversation going. “About $5 million later, we’re still trying to fulfill it.”
