HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The promising 3-year-old filly Elate is scheduled to run Saturday at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 3, $200,000 Honeybee, according to trainer Bill Mott. She will be invading from Florida, and her flight was to arrive Tuesday.
Elate enters the Honeybee off a runner-up finish to Tapa Tapa Tapa in the Suncoast Stakes on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs. She was beaten three lengths in her first start since winning her career debut at Aqueduct by 12 1/2 lengths on Nov. 26.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Green Gratto beat All Star Red by a head in the Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes on Jan. 16. Those two will get a rematch in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct.
Green Gratto, a 7-year-old New Jersey-bred son of Here’s Zealous, will be making his 52nd career start in the Tom Fool, a race in which he finished third in 2015. He won the Toboggan on the lead under Kendrick Carmouche. All Star Red, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Five Star Day, has not won since taking a second-level allowance last April over Aqueduct’s main track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had a terrific weekend, winning six races at three tracks.
Shortly before Suffused won the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream, Isabelle galloped to a 12-length victory in Aqueduct’s $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational.
Left by herself on the lead under Kendrick Carmouche, Isabelle was never threatened and earned a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance. The 6-year-old mare now has two stakes wins and a second in three starts since stretching out in distance.
Classic Rock, who defeated the Tampa Bay Derby-bound Beasley in winning a high-level optional-claiming/allowance race here Jan. 6, was back on the work tab Sunday, going an impressive three furlongs in 35.65 seconds while under a strong hold throughout. The work was the first for Classic Rock since returning from California, where he missed the Grade 2 San Vicente after taking sick a week before the race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Dolphus, a half-brother to champion and Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra, has been transferred by owner Dede McGehee to trainer Jimmy Jerkens. He will make his first start for Jerkens on Sunday at Aqueduct in the $125,000 Stymie Stakes.
Dolphus, a 4-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky previously trained by Joe Sharp, has won 3 of 9 starts. Most recently, he finished last of nine in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 14, when he got used up in a speed duel. It was after that race that McGehee moved the horse to Jerkens.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – On the West Coast, a 3-year-old filly who won her fourth straight race Saturday – and her third straight graded stakes – is the latest rage in American racing.
On the East Coast, a 3-year-old filly won her fourth straight race Saturday – and her third straight graded stakes – and all you hear is crickets.
Kelly Breen, who trains Miss Sky Warrior here in the East for owner and breeder Arlene London of Boca Raton, Fla., doesn’t much care that his stable star is receiving a fraction of the hype that Unique Bella is getting out West.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Conquest Enforcer will start in Saturday’s Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf at Santa Anita with four healthy feet.
Four weeks ago, the 4-year-old colt was in a different state. Immediately after a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes at a mile on turf Feb. 11, Conquest Enforcer was found to have a quarter crack. Through February, the foot was treated by noted farrier Wes Champagne, and it has responded to treatment, according to trainer Phil D’Amato.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens returns to riding at Santa Anita on Thursday for the first time since undergoing a hip-replacement operation in December.
Stevens, who turned 54 Monday, rides Oopper Wallah in the fourth race, a $40,000 claimer at six furlongs, and Jabber Now in the eighth race, a maiden race for California-bred fillies and mares on turf. Stevens has two mounts Friday, including Paquita Coqueta in the $75,000 Wishing Well Stakes for fillies and mares on the hillside turf course.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Irish Surf has not raced since the 2014 Thanksgiving weekend, when he finished sixth in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar. Two injuries led to layoffs that will end with an appearance in a competitive optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Thursday.
“We gave him a break, and he got cast in his stall,” trainer Dan Hendricks said last weekend. “He had a setback on the farm, and it took forever, it seems, to bring him around.”
