ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens was winless in two mounts at Santa Anita on Thursday, his first rides since undergoing hip-replacement surgery in late December.
Stevens finished second on Oopper Wallah in the fourth race, for 3-year-old claiming sprinters, and sixth on Jabber Now in the eighth race, for maidens on turf. He was active in the Santa Anita stables on Friday morning.
“I’ve worked a couple, and I’m ready for today,” he said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stellar Wind, the 2015 champion 3-year-old filly, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 at Santa Anita on Friday, an exercise trainer John Sadler described as “sensational.”
“We asked her to do a little more,” Sadler said. “She looked super-duper.”
Owned by Pete and Kosta Hronis, Stellar Wind is scheduled to have her 2017 debut in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on April 14.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Decked Out, unraced since winning the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 31, is getting a three-month break and will resume training in the spring, trainer Keith Desormeaux said Friday.
Decked Out has been at Piecefield Farm in Southern California since mid-February and will be there until May.
“She’s on a little break,” Desormeaux said. “We’ll point for a fall campaign.”
Decked Out had two recorded workouts at Santa Anita in early February before Desormeaux opted to give the filly a rest.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Battle of Midway and Reach the World finished a neck apart in an optional claimer for 3-year-olds in Thursday’s seventh race at Santa Anita. There is a good chance they will see each other again in early spring.
Trainers Jerry Hollendorfer and Bob Baffert said they are strongly considering the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8 for both colts, who had their third career starts Thursday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The field for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes came into clearer focus Friday at Oaklawn, where potential starters Petrov, Uncontested, and Silver Dust put in works for the Kentucky Derby points race set for next Saturday.
The Rebel will share a card with two other stakes, the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri for fillies and mares and the $250,000 Essex Handicap. Nominations for the three races were to close Friday, with entries to be taken Wednesday. The card generally ranks as the second-biggest of the meet, behind Arkansas Derby Day on April 15.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Elizabeth Dobles has had her trainer’s license for only a few months. But it didn’t take the 26-year-old long to make a big impression at Gulfstream, winning both ends of Thursday’s late daily double with longshots Arty’sbourbongirl and Swapl.
Dobles, who also gallops her horses, served as an assistant in New York for trainer Jeremiah Englehart before striking out on her own this winter.
The Pennsylvania Racing Commission has approved Penn National’s request to hold four daytime cards in May and June.
Penn National, which typically starts its programs at 6 p.m. Eastern, will have a first post of 1:30 p.m. on Triple Crown Saturdays – May 6, May 20, and June 10. The Grantville, Pa., racino also has moved up the starting time for its Penn Mile Day program, June 3, to 3:45 p.m.
The Penn Mile will be run as a Grade 2 for the first time this year. The earlier post time will allow Penn National to run several other turf races on the card before sunset.
Trainer Jonathan Maldonado is off to his best start since moving to Maryland from Puerto Rico in 2010.
Through Friday, Maldonado was 8 for 22 on the year and had already equaled his win total from 2016, when he sent 68 horses to the gate. He has won four of his last five starts dating to Feb. 20.
Maldonado, who turns 33 Sunday, began training in Puerto Rico in 2004. He had a good-sized stable there but moved to Maryland, where his older brother Rafael lived, and started over with a two-horse stable.
Hawaakom, one of the best older dirt horses at Fair Grounds, worked five furlongs in 1:01 on Thursday at Fair Grounds, his first timed breeze since he finished second behind Gun Runner on Feb. 20 in the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park.
Wes Hawley, who trains Hawaakom and is his majority owner, said Hawaakom still is on track to race April 1 in the New Orleans Handicap here.
The 3-year-old gelding Guest Suite, who won the Lecomte Stakes and was a solid fourth in the Risen Star Stakes, had his first work since the Risen Star, going a half-mile in 49.60 seconds on Tuesday.
“It was a little maintenance half-mile,” trainer Neil Howard said. “He went nice and smooth. He’s doing fine.”
Guest Suite remains on track to make his next start April 1 in the Louisiana Derby.
