OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Diversify, the undefeated New York-bred gelding, likely will make his next start in the $125,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct on March 12, trainer Rick Violette said Thursday.
Diversify is one of 15 horses nominated to the $100,000 Haynesfield Stakes for New York-breds on Feb. 11, but Violette doesn’t plan on running him there.
“I’d like him for the rest of the year,” Violette said. “I’m thinking of running him in the Stymie.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bavaro dropped the ball in his attempt to go two turns for owner Bill Parcells in last week’s Gander Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds. On Saturday, Parcells will see if his backup, Small Bear, is a prospect for the future.
Small Bear will bring a two-race winning streak into the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. Though the Withers is considered a prep race for 3-year-olds with Kentucky Derby dreams, Small Bear was conspicuous by his absence among the 419 3-year-olds nominated to the Triple Crown series last month.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Arrogate went back to the track to train Thursday at Santa Anita for the first time since his victory in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream last Saturday, and he has come out of the race so well that trainer Bob Baffert now describes the Dubai World Cup on March 25 as an “option.”
Arrogate jogged once around Santa Anita’s main track the wrong way under exercise rider Dana Barnes. Baffert said Arrogate came out of the Pegasus “fresh.”
“It wasn’t hard on him,” he said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There is a significant chance that Honor and Courage or Reach the World will win a $54,000 maiden special weight race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles in Saturday’s first race at Santa Anita.
Then, the expectations will truly soar. Both colts have been nominated to the Triple Crown and are held in high regard by their respective trainers, Jerry Hollendorfer and Bob Baffert.
Honor and Courage was beaten a nose by Sheer Flattery in a maiden race at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 31. Sheer Flattery starts in Saturday’s $150,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.
Sam Houston moved its Houston Ladies Classic card to a Sunday afternoon for the first time this year and realized a 22 percent spike in handle. In the past, the track had run its most prestigious card on a Saturday night. The program Sunday featured five stakes, anchored by the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic.
Sam Houston handled $2.79 million on its 10-race card Sunday, according to the track. Last year, handle on the Houston Ladies Classic program was $2.29 million.
Trainer Joe Sharp and owner Brad Grady’s pair of talented 3-year-olds, Girvin and Cool Arrow, are entered in the $50,000 Keith Gee Memorial, a one-mile grass race on the Saturday card at Fair Grounds.
Both horses had been stuck at the Evangeline Downs training center in Lafayette, La., unable to race at Fair Grounds because of the equine herpesvirus event that had put Fair Grounds under quarantine until Jan. 21.
Two-time divisional champion Tepin took a major step toward her 6-year-old debut Wednesday when she breezed five furlongs in 59.80 seconds with regular rider Julien Leparoux aboard at her Palm Meadows base.
Trainer Mark Casse said afterward that the work impressed him to such a degree that Tepin is almost sure to run in the Grade 3 Endeavour Stakes on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs.
The e Five Racing Thoroughbreds of Bob and Kristine Edwards had a memorable first year at the races, winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with New Money Honey, who was among the 10 yearlings e Five and bloodstock agent Mike Ryan bought in 2015. Now e Five has also come up with a promising 3-year-old dirt horse, Local Hero, who stormed to a maiden special weight victory last week at Fair Grounds for trainer Steve Asmussen.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Alex Birzer had a clear vision of the career path he wanted to go down before he even hit his teenage years. The plan has worked to perfection. Birzer is now sitting at the threshold of 3,000 Thoroughbred wins, entering the Oaklawn race week on Thursday with 2,991.
Birzer, a 43-year-old native of Kansas, hails from a racing family. From an early age, he took his cue from his father, Gary Birzer, who rode for about five years before turning to training. Alex Birzer launched his riding career in 1992, with his first win coming at River Downs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Classic Empire will be an odds-on choice when the Gulfstream Park trail to the Kentucky Derby starts Saturday with the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes. And he should be, considering that the colt is the reigning divisional champion and was the favored individual betting interest in the first two pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
But if Classic Empire somehow stubs his toe in the Holy Bull, Irish War Cry or Gunnevera could be there to pull an upset in the 1 1/16-mile race.
