Sat, 11/12/2016 - 18:19

Tepin will travel to Dubai, not Hong Kong, trainer says

Barbara D. Livingston
Tepin will need to be in top form to repeat last year's win in the Mile.

Champion mare Tepin will make a trip to Dubai, not Hong Kong, trainer Mark Casse said Saturday. 

Tepin's connections flirted with running her in Hong Kong after Tepin finished second to Tourist in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last weekend. Tepin owner Robert Masterson said afterward he was seriously considering running Tepin in the Hong Kong Mile on Dec. 11. Masterson said racing needs to showcase its stars, and he thought it would be nice for a new audience to see Tepin. In June Tepin went to England and beat males in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Sat, 11/12/2016 - 14:14

Injury, suspensions will sideline Bejarano two weeks

Shigeki Kikkawa
Jockey Rafael Bejarano dropped his appeal and will serve a three-day suspension.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Rafael Bejarano, with an injury to his right hand and six days of suspensions, will not ride again until Nov. 26, his agent, Tora Yamaguchi, said Saturday morning.

Bejarano on Friday was given a second three-day careless-riding suspension; the dates are assigned to this Del Mar meet. There is one free day, Nov. 19, amid those six days, but Yamaguchi said he and Bejarano decided it wouldn't be worth coming back for that one day while recuperating from his hand injury. So Bejarano will be out for the next two weeks.

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 20:02

Pick six carries over opening day, with $11,805 in jackpot pool

DEL MAR, Calif. – On the first day of Del Mar’s newly configured pick six, which incorporates a separate carryover for a single winning ticket, no one could pick five winners on Friday, let alone six, leading to two carryovers into Saturday’s card.

The carryover in the general pick six pool is $55,093. Another $11,805 is in the jackpot carryover pool, reserved for any single winning ticket.

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 12:46

Bejarano to miss five cards with injury, suspension

Shigeki Kikkawa
Jockey Rafael Bejarano dropped his appeal and will serve a three-day suspension.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Rafael Bejarano has won riding titles at six of the last seven meetings conducted at Del Mar, but his chances of capturing the title at the fall meet that opened Friday were dealt a setback owing to a hand injury and a suspension, which effectively remove him from the first five days of the meet.

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 12:06

Runhappy won't run in Clark Handicap

Barbara D. Livingston
Runhappy's connections might be having second thoughts on their plan to transform him into a two-turn horse.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Runhappy will not run in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap on Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs while owner Jim McIngvale and trainer Laura Wohlers mull their options with the 2015 sprint champion.

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 12:00

Valdivia sustains leg and back injuries in multiple-horse spill

Churchill Downs/Coady Photography
Jose Valdivia Jr. will be out of action indefinitely after undergoing surgery to repair multiple fractures.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. underwent surgery Friday at University Hospital in Louisville for fractures of his left tibia and fibula after being injured in a scary multiple-horse spill during the fourth race Thursday at Churchill Downs.

Renee Valdivia, the jockey’s wife, said a rod and screws were to be inserted to stabilize the damage in the lower leg in what doctors described as routine procedure. Valdivia also has a very minor fracture in an upper vertebra that will heal on its own, she added.

“We feel very fortunate it’s nothing worse,” she said.

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 10:06

Stellar Wind pencilled in for spring return

Barbara D. Livingston
Stellar Wind will probably make her first start of 2017 in the spring, trainer John Sadler said.

Stellar Wind, who defeated Beholder in two Grade 1 races before a slow-start fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, will return to racing sooner in 2017 than she did in 2016, trainer John Sadler said this week.

Stellar Wind, 2 for 4 in 2016, did not make her first start of this season until June.

“She’ll come back sooner, I would think April,” Sadler said. “And she’s going to be one of the ones.”

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 10:06

Avenge being aimed at the big races next year

Shigeki Kikkawa
Avenge earned a fees-paid to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by leading throughout in the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita.

One day after Beholder’s thrilling swan song in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, trainer Richard Mandella introduced Avenge to the elite of the female turf division. Her third in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, beaten one length by Queen’s Trust and Lady Eli, stamped Avenge as a force for 2017.

“She answered that [2016] wasn’t just a B.S. little summer campaign – it was real,” Mandella said, adding that Avenge’s BC third established her “as a real horse.”

Fri, 11/11/2016 - 10:00

Gormley to regroup for 3-year-old season

Shigeki Kikkawa
FrontRunner winner Gormley is pointing toward the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Gormley did so little running in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last Saturday that trainer John Shirreffs took him to the track for light training the very next day.

“For whatever reason, he didn’t run at all,” Shirreffs said.

Early this week at Santa Anita, Shirreffs could not pinpoint a reason for the colt’s seventh-place Breeders’ Cup finish under Victor Espinoza.

Thu, 11/10/2016 - 15:50

Motion weighs options for Miss Temple City

Coady Photography
Miss Temple City pays $17.40 for her win under Edgar Prado in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile.

Trainer Graham Motion left Miss Temple City in Southern California following her fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Mile while he weighs options for her next start.

Motion mentioned that Miss Temple City was invited to the Hong Kong Mile on Dec. 11 – the same race to which Tepin was invited. While Motion said he is considering running Miss Temple City in that race, he is also considering the Matriarch on Dec. 4 at Del Mar.