ARCADIA, Calif. – Leading jockey Rafael Bejarano has dropped an appeal of a three-day suspension issued earlier this year, according to a ruling issued by track stewards last weekend.
Bejarano, the leading rider at the spring-summer meeting at Santa Anita through Sunday, will not ride Friday through Sunday this week. He is eligible to ride the Grade 3 Laz Barrera Stakes on Saturday since graded stakes are exempt from routine suspensions.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Paradise Woods, who finished 11th as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last Friday, will undergo a nuclear scan to check on her physical condition.
Trainer Richard Mandella emphasized on Wednesday that the scan is precautionary. Paradise Woods was flown from Kentucky to California this week.
“She came home in good shape,” he said. “We’ll do a nuclear scan because she ran such a bad race. She looks good. We don’t see anything.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The unraced juvenile colts Argosy Fleet and Runaway Ghost arrived at Santa Anita this spring from Florida and New Mexico, respectively, and will run Friday in the year’s first 2-year-old maiden race for open company at Santa Anita. Two California-bred maiden races were held last weekend.
Argosy Fleet and Runaway Ghost are part of a full field of eight going 4 1/2 furlongs in Friday’s second race. Both have made fans of their trainers.
Antonio Gallardo has won an extraordinary number of races over the past several years. He was second only to Jose Ortiz in 2016 with 332 wins and the prior year was the runner-up to Javier Castellano with 320 victories.
But things have been different this year for Gallardo, who has won only 20 races coming into opening day of the Monmouth Park season.
Gulfstream Park track record holder Clearly Now will see local action again soon. Trainer Ron Faucheux said Clearly Now is being pointed to the Grade 3, $250,000 Smile Sprint on July 1.
Faucheux said Clearly Now is back at Gulfstream following last weekend’s Grade 2 Churchill Downs. Clearly Now had his fair share of trouble in the race and finished sixth, three lengths behind winner Limousine Liberal.
Trainer Blaine Wright said Alliford Bay came out of her impressive win in the Seattle Stakes last Sunday in good shape, but he wasn’t sure where she would make her next start.
“We are going to check out our options with her,” he said. “She could run here, or we might take her back to Golden Gate. Hastings also has races for her. We’ll give her some time to come out of it and go from there.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Ian Wilkes said Wednesday that the puncture wound sustained by McCraken in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday is healing quickly and that he anticipates the colt returning to training at Churchill Downs in the near future.
“We’re keeping it clean and treating it with antibiotic cream,” said Wilkes. “It’s healing up real nice.”
McCraken finished eighth as the 6-1 fourth choice after being squeezed badly at the break, which is where he incurred the injury to his left hind ankle when he and Classic Empire made contact.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gun Runner had his first official breeze since returning from Dubai, going an easy half-mile in 51 seconds on Monday at Churchill Downs.
Second to Arrogate in the March 25 Dubai World Cup, Gun Runner is being pointed to the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap here June 17.
“He’s still Gun Runner,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “We’ll look to work him every week or so up to the race. We’ve got some leeway in there in case we need it. So far, though, he’s doing just great.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Daddys Lil Darling, the runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks last Friday at Churchill Downs for the Normandy Farm of Nancy Polk, could make her next start in the Group 1 Investec Oaks on June 2 at Epsom Downs in England, trainer Ken McPeek said Wednesday from Keeneland.
McPeek said the final decision on whether to ship to Epsom Downs for the 1 1/2-mile turf race still has to be made by Polk, “but I’d like to give this a try.”
“It’s outside the box, I know, but I’m fine with that,” he said.
STICKNEY, Ill. – No one is turning cartwheels, but at least Hawthorne Race Course’s betting handle held the line – and even improved a touch in some areas – during its winter-spring 2017 meet that concluded April 29.
Hawthorne ran 185 races over 22 programs during a 22-day meet that began March 11. The races averaged 7.18 starters, and Hawthorne averaged $1,352,373 in all-sources daily handle for a gross handle of $29,747,806.
