HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saudi Crown is in, Skinner is out, and Imagination remains on the fence. That was the latest update regarding the potential starting lineup for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup as of Wednesday, when the third and final invitation list for the big event was released by the Gulfstream Park racing office.
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DRF Past Performances
A trainer with a horse entered in the Lecomte Stakes related a recent conversation with another Fair Grounds horse person, the conversational companion suggesting connections of the 3-year-old colt Built might scratch the horse from the Lecomte because he drew poorly in post 13.
Built’s trainer, Wayne Catalano, reached Tuesday by phone, never mentioned the possibility of scratching.
“He seems to have a lot of talent. If you’re going to be a good horse, you’re going to have to overcome obstacles,” Catalano said.
A new era for Maryland racing will officially begin Friday when Laurel Park kicks off its first season under the control of a state-owned nonprofit company tied closely to the state’s horsemen.
Laurel has not raced since the end of 2024, when it was still nominally owned and operated by an entity owned by 1/ST Racing and Gaming. The racing license for that company has now been transferred to a company controlled by the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority.
The twice-started exciting prospect Patch Adams will make his stakes, route, and 3-year-old debut in the Southwest Stakes on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn Park, trainer Brad Cox said Tuesday.
Patch Adams has breezed steadily at Payson Park since shipping to Florida from Kentucky in mid-December and flies from Florida to Arkansas on Monday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Usually the hunted in 3-year-old maiden special weight races held here this time of the season, Todd Pletcher became the hunter instead on Saturday, sending out a pair of very promising youngsters, River Thames and Grande, to capture their career debuts while defeating a couple of odds-on favorites in the process.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Bob Baffert admitted he is still “trying to figure out” his multiple Grade 1-placed Imagination. As of Monday, this dilemma had Baffert sorting out whether to ship Imagination to South Florida for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream on Jan. 25.
As they have done for months, the 3-year-old fillies Her Laugh and Simply Joking breezed together Sunday at Fair Grounds, working a half-mile for upcoming starts, but as he said would be the case after both horses won stakes races Dec. 21 at Fair Grounds, their trainer, Whit Beckman, will continue keeping the pair apart.
Simply Joking, who clocked 49 seconds in her Sunday breeze, starts Saturday at Fair Grounds in the $150,000 Silverbulletday, stretching out to a route after making a winning career debut in the six-furlong Letellier Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – British jockey William Pyle will have his American debut Thursday at Santa Anita, a month after he arrived for a seven-week stay to ride in the mornings for trainer Dan Blacker.
Pyle, 22, will ride the Blacker-trained Victory Matters off a two-year layoff in a maiden race for California-breds at a mile on turf.
Pyle, who has won 54 races in the last four years, has been exercising Victory Matters in recent weeks.
“He gets on well with the horse,” Blacker said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The rescheduled California Cup program at Santa Anita on Saturday, consisting of five stakes for statebreds, added four runners from the original lineups on Jan. 11.
The Jan. 11 program was one of three days of racing from Friday through Sunday that were canceled last weekend because of the effects of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County.
Three of the five California Cup races this Saturday drew the same horses entered last weekend.