Valadorna, who finished a close, somewhat-troubled second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, will have an early 2017 Fair Grounds campaign, trainer Mark Casse said Thursday.
Valadorna is getting a break at the Florida farm of her owner, Stonestreet Stables. Casse said she would be shipped to New Orleans in two or three weeks.
“I don’t see her missing a whole lot of time,” he said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Liberty Park, a full brother to stakes winner Prospect Park, makes his debut Sunday in race 3, a maiden race at one mile on turf for 2-year-olds. The race was split into two divisions, with the second one being run as race 9.
Liberty Park, a son of Tapit out of the Bertrando mare Quiet Romance, is trained by Clifford Sise Jr., who trains Prospect Park.
“He can run,” Sise said. “I’d have preferred to run him on dirt, and there was a race on dirt a week ago, but I wanted to get one more gate work into him before I ran him.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Mark Glatt has been forced to take his time with Silent Bird, but that patience is being rewarded. Silent Bird’s victory in an allowance race at Del Mar on Thursday was his fourth straight, all in sprints, and now he will head around two turns, the province of his sire, Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird.
“He’ll stretch out now,” Glatt said, adding that the Grade 2, $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 1 would be his next race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Frazil, a 10-year-old gelding who became a fan favorite racing mostly in the claiming ranks on the New York Racing Association circuit, has been retired.
Frazil finished seventh of nine in a $12,500 claiming race at Aqueduct on Wednesday and came out of the race “pretty sore,” said Michael Oliveto, managing partner of Hibiscus Stables, which owns Frazil with trainer Steve Klesaris.
“We just all looked at each other and realized the proper thing to do with this horse is call it a career,” Oliveto said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unlike many who participated in the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Michelle Nevin’s pair of older female sprinters, Paulassilverlining and By the Moon, are not headed for retirement, the breeding shed, or a vacation in the near future.
Paulassilverlining, third, beaten two lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, worked five furlongs in 1:03.63 on Friday over Belmont Park’s main track. Nevin said she might run in next Saturday’s $125,000 Garland of Roses Stakes over the inner track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Takaful will be spending the holidays in New York.
Takaful, the impressive 2-year-old maiden winner who finished third as the favorite in the Remsen Stakes last weekend, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Jerome Stakes, the first 3-year-old route stakes of the year on this circuit, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Friday. The Jerome, run over the inner track at a mile and 70 yards, will be run Monday, Jan. 2, and offers 17 qualifying points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers toward the May 6 Kentucky Derby.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There were three winning tickets in the pick six on Thursday at Del Mar, enabling the single-ticket jackpot carryover to reach $41,385.57, with a mandatory payout in the wager looming on closing day Sunday.
There was $33,763.71 in the single-ticket carryover pool entering Thursday’s card after there were no single-ticket winners last Saturday or Sunday. Fresh money of $66,590 was wagered Thursday.
Those nailing all six winners received $11,856.20, while those who had 5 of 6 got $127.60.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rosario Montanez’s victory on Going Strong in Aqueduct’s fifth race on Wednesday was a meaningful one, as it was his first in New York in nearly 2 1/2 years.
Montanez was sidelined for 18 months because of injuries suffered in a spill on July 19, 2014, at Saratoga. Montanez needed 18 operations to repair injuries to his eye socket, cheek bone, nose, and forehead. He returned to race riding on March 1 at Parx and had ridden 17 winners among Parx, Laurel, Penn National, Meadowlands, and Suffolk Downs before Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Earlier this year, Whitmore took the Arkansas path to the Kentucky Derby. On Saturday, Whitmore’s comeback trail to Hot Springs begins in New York.
Whitmore, who placed in a trio of 3-year-old graded stakes at Oaklawn Park, makes his first start since running 19th in the Kentucky Derby. He runs in a second-level allowance race going 6 1/2 furlongs at Aqueduct.
