HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Through the years Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has compiled an outstanding record in 3-year-old stakes at Oaklawn Park, but he will be charting new territory in the local races on Sunday.
The Southern California-based Baffert will be looking to win the Honeybee for the first time when he sends out Explora in the Grade 3, $750,000 race for 3-year-old fillies that shares a card with the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel.
Hey Nay Nay, a two-time stakes winner in 2025 but beaten in his last three stakes starts, is in the midst of a 60-day vacation at a California farm, trainer John Sadler said last weekend.
Hey Nay Nay was a notable absentee from the $102,000 Pasadena Stakes for 3-years-olds at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Sunday.
“He’s getting a small vacation, a freshening,” Sadler said.
Future Is Now, a four-time graded stakes winner who earned nearly $1 million on turf, is maintaining her regal status in retirement. Co-owner Tracy Mulroy said the Maryland-bred mare is living the good life at Legacy Farm in Beaumont, Va., and will be bred to Constitution this year.
As she prepares for her first breeding season, Future Is Now is currently sharing a field with Call Another Play, another Maryland-bred stakes winner. Mulroy said it’s a peaceful life for the two mares.
“She just seems like a happy girl,” Mulroy said. “Ready to move on to her second career.”
Trainer Brittany Russell formally introduced two young guns in her 3-year-old crop last Saturday, as Taj Mahal and Peach Tie delivered sharp efforts to sweep a pair of $100,000 stakes at Laurel Park. Both runners could stay close to home while adding distance in the coming months.
“It was a great day,” Russell said. “Look, I had confidence in both horses and I’m just glad they showed up and ran the way I thought they could.”
Jockey Juan Hernandez, who through Sunday had a narrow one-win lead in the jockey standings at Santa Anita, is in the midst of a seven-day suspension for causing interference in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks in New Mexico on Feb. 15.
Hernandez’s suspension covers seven calendar days from Monday through this Sunday. The penalty was first reported by Paulick Report.
Through Sunday, Hernandez had won 27 races at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that began on Dec. 28, one more than Kazushi Kimura. Emisael Jaramillo was third with 22 wins.
The 2025 Grade 1 winner Lovesick Blues has been moved to Dubai for the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint on March 28 following a fifth-place finish in the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 14.
Lovesick Blues was beaten 5 1/4 lengths by the American-based Imagination in the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint at six furlongs, closing from the back of a field of 13. For the $2 million Golden Shaheen at six furlongs, trainer Librado Barocio hopes to employ a more forward strategy with Lovesick Blues.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although his speed figures might be a little light and he’s yet to test stakes company, Jackson Hole has one item on his résumé that puts him in the conversation when talking about leading contenders for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth: He’s the only member of the field to have won a race around two turns.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Chief Wallabee obviously showed a world of potential when rallying to defeat the highly regarded and subsequently stakes-placed The Puma launching his career going seven furlongs on Jan. 10 at Gulfstream Park. But did he do enough to warrant coming back around two turns in a major Kentucky Derby prep in his second start six weeks later?
That’s the question trainer Bill Mott has wrestled with since Chief Wallabee’s victory. He finally reached a decision 24 hours after his promising 3-year-old drew post 6 on Saturday in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
The blizzard that struck the Northeast on Sunday into Monday will delay the arrival of many horses scheduled to run in Saturday stakes at Aqueduct.
Horses expected to arrive by van from Florida – such as Iron Honor and Hammond for the Gotham and Nycon, Blazing Brat, Current Yield, and Paradise for the Busher – had their travel pushed back by at least one day. Instead of leaving Monday, those horses were now hopeful of leaving on Tuesday, arriving in New York on Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tariff Mindset overcame a taxing trip to win his debut going one mile at Aqueduct last Saturday, and his connections are thinking he should get better going longer.
Tariff Mindset, a son of Tiz the Law, got away poorly in Saturday’s fifth race. He was climbing early over a sealed, muddy main track and was as far back as 11 lengths off the early pace.
