Fri, 01/20/2017 - 15:06

Green Gratto to wait for Tom Fool Handicap in March

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Kendrick Carmouche takes Green Gratto wire to wire in the Toboggan on Monday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Green Gratto is giving his connections signs that he will be ready to run again sooner rather than later, trainer Gaston Grant said Friday that he likely will wait to run the Grade 3 Toboggan winner until the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct on March 11.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 15:06

Lady Aurelia plans return trip to Europe

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Lady Aurelia will prep for a summer in Europe racing in a turf sprint stakes at Keeneland in April.

Lady Aurelia, a two-time overseas stakes winner and a finalist for champion 2-year-old filly of 2016, is being aimed for another European summer campaign after kicking off her 2017 season this spring at Keeneland, trainer Wesley Ward said Thursday.

Ward, speaking by phone from his primary winter base in Florida, where he is already gearing up his 2-year-olds with swimming and long gallops, said Lady Aurelia will get her early preparation this year at Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Training Center just outside of Ocala, Fla., and join his stable later.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 14:45

Mo Tom remains on schedule for Mineshaft

Barbara D. Livingston
Mo Tom is pointing to the Grade 3 Mineshaft on Feb. 25.

Mo Tom is up to five furlongs in morning workouts as he prepares for his 4-year-old debut, which is likely to come Feb. 25 in the Grade 3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds.

Mo Tom was one of the leading 3-year-olds last winter at Fair Grounds, winning the Lecomte Stakes and finishing a very troubled third in the Risen Star Stakes and fourth in the Louisiana Derby. Mo Tom ran eighth in the Kentucky Derby, decisively won the Ohio Derby, and then lost his form and wound up his 3-year-old season by finishing fifth in the Super Derby.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 14:41

I'm a Chatterbox's trip to Texas back on schedule

Barbara D. Livingston
I'm a Chatterbox, with trainer Larry Jones, will likely be allowed to travel from New Orleans to Sam Houston for next Sunday's Houston Ladies Classic.

I’m a Chatterbox will be able to make the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic after all.

The Grade 1-winning mare had been pointed for the Jan. 29 race at Sam Houston since returning from a short break following her fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but when Fair Grounds was hit by an equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) outbreak in late December, which led to a state quarantine of the track, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to make the race.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 14:34

Valadorna will make 2017 debut in allowance next Friday

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Valadorna (outside) will go a mile and 70 yards in her first start as a 3-year-old.

Valadorna, a top Kentucky Oaks prospect on the strength of her encouraging three-start 2-year-old campaign, is set to make her first start of 2017 in a first-level allowance race next Friday at Fair Grounds.

Valadorna is one of six 3-year-old fillies entered to go a mile and 70 yards on the main track in the sixth race. She drew post 1 and has Florida-based Julien Leparoux, her regular pilot, named to ride.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 14:10

On dirt, Quijote looks good in Sunday feature

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Tom Amoss has long played the off-the-turf game at Fair Grounds as well as any horseman here, and Amoss might have found another sweet spot in the featured sixth race Sunday.

Quijote is entered for the main track only in a third-level allowance race that is also open to $80,000 claimers and carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. If the rain that was expected all weekend falls at close to the forecast volume, Sunday’s grass races figure to wind up on dirt.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 13:20

Ashleyluvssugar tops probables for California Cup Classic

Shigeki Kikkawa
Ashleyluvssugar, shown training at Santa Anita on Jan. 8, is expected to be a heavy favorite in next Saturday's California Cup Classic.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ashleyluvssugar, a winner of two Grade 2 turf stakes in 2016, will be a strong favorite to win his fifth stakes in the $250,000 California Cup Classic for statebreds at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Jan. 28.

Trained by Peter Eurton for the partnership of Sharon Alesia, Joe Ciaglia, and Bran Jam Racing, Ashleyluvssugar was second in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 25 and has been trained in recent months with the Cal Cup Classic as a first target for 2017.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 12:26

Imperative shows liking for racing surface

Benoit & Associates
Imperative, who won the Big Bear Stakes for trainer Richard Baltas, will make his first start for new trainer Bob Hess Jr. in the Poseidon.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ten days after being purchased privately by Ron Paolucci’s Loooch Racing in California, the multimillionaire Imperative was on the track at Gulfstream Park on Friday, working a sharp six furlongs in 1:13.46 in his final prep for the $400,000 Poseidon Stakes, which serves as a lead-in next Saturday for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 12:16

Tepin slated to work Sunday for Endeavour

Debbie Roma

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Tepin is scheduled to breeze Sunday at Palm Meadows as the star turf mare remains on schedule for her 6-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Endeavour on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Trainer Mark Casse said a decision is forthcoming on whether the Endeavour will serve as a springboard toward a race on the March 25 Dubai World Cup card.

“She’s done so much for us already that Dubai is about the only thing left to do,” said Casse.

Fri, 01/20/2017 - 11:46

Valdivia hoping for February return to riding

Churchill Downs/Coady Photography
Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. plans to begin exercising horses Tuesday as he recovers from a leg injury.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. was on hand Friday morning at Gulfstream as he continues to recover from a leg injury suffered in a Nov. 10 spill at Churchill Downs.

“Everything is coming along real well,” said Valdivia, who lives with his wife, Renee, and two children in nearby Hollywood.