ARCADIA, Calif. - Big Macher, a five-time stakes winner who has not raced since November 2015 because of injury, is being prepared for a comeback this summer.
Big Macher worked a half-mile at Santa Anita on Saturday in 51.80 seconds, his second recorded work this year.
“He’s coming back very nicely,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “He had a ligament issue and it wasn’t bad. I gave him plenty of time. Hopefully, we can have him ready for Del Mar.”
The Del Mar summer meeting begins July 19.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Agapito Delgadillo resumed exercising horses at Santa Anita in recent days after missing more than a month of racing because of a collarbone injury suffered in a spill at the track Feb. 19.
Delgadillo plans to resume riding April 14, coinciding with the start of the spring-summer meeting.
Delgadillo, 50, underwent tests in early March and did not need surgery, according to his agent, Sue McBrayer.
“It got better and better,” she said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The longest race of Itsinthepost’s career has become the defining race of Itsinthepost’s career.
At Santa Anita on Saturday, Itsinthepost won his first stakes in his 24th start in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf, his first attempt at the distance.
In 2014, when Joe Sharp was working as an assistant for trainer Mike Maker, owner Brad Grady gave him the financial backing to go out on his own and begin claiming horses. Next Saturday at Fair Grounds, Sharp and Grady will send out two horses in the $1 million Louisiana Derby, including likely favorite Girvin.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Practical Joke moved a step closer toward starting in the $1 million Florida Derby by working five furlongs in 1:00.90 in company with stablemate Shagaf at Palm Meadows on Saturday. Practical Joke was one of more than a half-dozen possible Florida Derby starters to work throughout the local area Saturday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Deshawn Parker, who recently arrived at Oaklawn Park, was hooked on riding the minute he first sat on a horse. Fast forward a few decades, and he has established himself as one of the winningest riders in the game, with more than 5,200 victories. Parker twice has led all North American riders in wins in a year and is considered the kingpin of Mountaineer Racetrack.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – State of Honor, flying a bit under the radar on the Kentucky Derby trail despite finishing behind only McCraken and Tapwrit in his last two starts at Tampa Bay Downs, is likely headed back to Gulfstream Park for the $1 million Florida Derby next Saturday.
State of Honor was scheduled to have his final prep for the Grade 1 Florida Derby on Friday, but a sloppy track at Palm Meadows forced assistant trainer Norm Casse to postpone the breeze until Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Goodyearforroses, unbeaten in three starts since joining trainer Richard Baltas’s stable last fall, is likely to start in the first Grade 1 race of her career in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 27.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Masochistic, the three-time stakes winner who was second in the Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes in his first start of the year March 11, is bound for Kentucky.
Trainer Ron Ellis said on Friday that Masochistic will start in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 6 on the undercard of the Kentucky Derby. Masochistic was the 1-2 favorite in the $400,690 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita. He led to the final furlong before losing by a length to 16-1 Denman’s Call.
Tony Dutrow thinks a homecoming of sorts can get Mo Town to the Kentucky Derby.
Dutrow confirmed Thursday that Mo Town, the winner of the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct last November, will return to the Big A for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8, when he likely will need to finish in the top three to earn enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
Though Dutrow had considered running Mo Town in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 1, he said Mo Town’s success at Aqueduct was his reason to run in the Wood.
