ARCADIA, Calif. - Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016 and the winner of Saturday’s $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita, may appear in one of several stakes for fillies and mares in the next few months.
Trainer Ian Kruljac said Sunday that he is considering two-turn races on dirt and turf for Finest City, who won the Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs in her first start since a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint here last November.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita canceled its eight-race Sunday program in anticipation of a day of heavy rain and wind, track senior vice-president Joe Morris said.
The decision was made shortly before 8 a.m., more than four hours before first post time of 12:30 p.m. This is the second time this month Santa Anita has lost a racing program to weather. The Jan. 12 card was canceled because of a torrential downpour early that morning.
Morris said weather forecasts indicated that rain would begin at midday Sunday and continue until evening.
ARCADIA, Calif.- For three consecutive weekends this month, Arrogate has worked prior to the first race at Santa Anita. With each workout, trainer Bob Baffert has expressed confidence Arrogate is on schedule for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28.
After Arrogate worked six furlongs in 1:12.13 at Santa Anita late Saturday morning, Baffert said the world-class 4-year-old colt is prepared for the world’s richest race. Recent wet weather in Southern California that has forced changes in Arrogate’s daily training schedule will not be an excuse.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With the richest, and last, race of California Chrome’s career a week away in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup here at Gulfstream Park, trainer Art Sherman and his son and assistant, Alan, were so focused on that goal that the fact California Chrome recorded the final workout of his career on Saturday morning didn’t fully hit them.
Though Alan Sherman said he thought a bit about it Friday night -- “It is weird,” he said – the upcoming week had him energized.
“We could win two Eclipse Awards and a $12 million race in a week,” he said.
Perry Ouzts, the 62-year-old jockey who ranks 11th all time among North American jockeys with 6,715 career victories, was fortunate to escape with no more than body soreness after being unseated from his mount, Toston, a little more than a quarter-mile into Thursday’s sixth race at Turfway Park.
The incident occurred entering the turn of the six-furlong race when Toston unexpectedly propped, sending Ouzts tumbling over his mount. With Toston last at the time, there were no trailing horses to trample the rider.
Boyd Gaming announced Thursday that it has completed $45 million in expansion and improvement projects at Delta Downs. The expansion is led by a 167-room hotel tower and a restaurant that overlooks the track.
Boyd is the parent company of the Vinton, La., racetrack, hotel, and casino.
Texas Chrome, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs and the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park, will be honored as the Texas Thoroughbred Association’s horse of the year during a June 24 banquet, the organization announced. The event will be held at Lone Star Park near Dallas.
Weast Hill will put his perfect Oaklawn Park record on the line Sunday, when he attempts to win his sixth race there. He goes in a six-furlong allowance for Arkansas-breds that drew a full field of 12.
Weast Hill won all three of his starts at Oaklawn last year and in 2015 launched his career at the track with a maiden special weight score and a victory in the $75,000 Rainbow. He will be making his first start since May on Sunday, and the time off was by design, said trainer Brad Cox.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Turco Bravo, a two-time winner of the Stymie Stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track, is gearing up for a return to the races and a bid for a Stymie three-peat.
On Thursday, Turco Bravo worked a mile in 1:46.48. He went his first three furlongs in 43.99 seconds and got his last quarter in 24.34 over Belmont Park’s training track. He was credited with a five-furlong workout in 1:02.49.
“Every eighth was faster than the one before,” trainer Gary Contessa said. “I love seeing that. We’re not far away.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Paulassilverlining, a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the female sprint division, hasn’t worked since her victory in the Garland of Roses Stakes at Aqueduct on Dec. 10. Still, trainer Michelle Nevin said Thursday that she is keeping the Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel on Feb. 18 very much in mind for the stakes-winning mare.
“It’s a possibility,” Nevin said. “Over the next two weeks, I’ll know what I’m doing.”
Nevin said that following the Garland of Roses, “it was time to give her a break.”
