ARCADIA, Calif. – The apprentice jockey who collected suspension days in the winter and spring at Santa Anita is collecting wins this summer.
Evin Roman, a 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico, has stormed to the fore of the jockey standings in Southern California in recent weeks and could win the riding title for the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting that ends Tuesday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fabio Arguello Jr., best known for winning the 1992 Kentucky Oaks aboard Luv Me Luv Me Not, is making another comeback in the saddle.
Arguello, 44, is named on one mount Saturday at Ellis. The Colombia native suffered a serious leg fracture in a February 2014 spill at Sam Houston and actually returned to riding 11 months later but stopped again after two mounts “because it just didn’t feel right,” said Arguello.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the July 8 Belmont Sprint Championship expected to get such top sprinters as Mind Your Biscuits, Unified, and A. P. Indian, trainer Ben Colebrook thought he’d wait a little longer before sending Limousine Liberal to New York to try the heavy heads again.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer John Hancock will run two fillies Friday night in the Debutante Stakes on the final card of the Churchill Downs spring meet. Then he and the horses will make the westward trek back to their home base, Ellis Park, pulling in somewhere around 1:30 in the morning.
“Got my own rig,” said Hancock.
Seven-pound apprentice rider Hector Diaz Jr. will begin riding at Monmouth Park on Friday, according to his New York agent, Tim Micallef.
Diaz has been based in New York since he started out in November. He is 26 for 271, a win average of 9 percent, with all but one of his wins coming at either Belmont Park or Aqueduct. Diaz will be represented by agent Shawn Klotz at Monmouth.
The plan is to build up Diaz’s business at Monmouth and then return to New York following Labor Day weekend.
In sports, nothing lasts forever, but for a number of years it seemed as if Ben’s Cat, the pride of Maryland, just might. Now 11, and a step or two slower than he used to be, King Leatherbury has made the decision to retire him.
Leatherbury bred and owns the Maryland-bred gelding. He trained him through eight seasons on the racetrack.
ELMONT, N.Y. – A field of five or six is in the making for the $250,000 Mother Goose on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Todd Pletcher said he could run two or three fillies in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. The Mother Goose, which was downgraded from a Grade 1 to a Grade 2 this year, will have a purse of $250,000, a $50,000 cut from 2016.
Pletcher plans to start Lights of Medina and Moana, who finished second and fifth in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan last out. He also is considering My Miss Tapit for the race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Brian Lynch confirmed Monday that Lightstream will return to the scene of her maiden victory 15 months ago as the likely favorite for Saturday’s Grade 2 Princess Rooney. Lightstream is coming off a third-place finish behind By the Moon in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses at Belmont Park this month.
The Princess Rooney, part of the annual Summit of Speed card, is a Win and You’re In qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November and Del Mar.
Beverly Burress, who closed out her riding career at Louisiana Downs in September 2013, began training last fall and now has a 14-horse stable based in Bossier City, La. She had won four races from 13 starts at the meet through Sunday for a 31 percent strike rate at Louisiana Downs.
Burress, who just picked up five horses for a new client, owns some of the horses she trains and as such was tied for third in the owners’ standings at Louisiana Downs through Sunday. One of her winningest horses, Lil Becky, was seeking to win her fourth straight race Monday.
Rumpole, who has won three stakes in his last three starts, is under consideration for the $60,000 Prelude at Louisiana Downs, according to trainer Bob Young. The 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds is Aug. 5.
The Prelude is designed to produce starters for the $200,000 Super Derby, which will be run on grass for the first time when it is renewed Sept. 9. Rumpole has won stakes this year at Sam Houston and his base of Lone Star Park.
