ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tiz a Slam, who powered his way to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes on turf Oct. 22, will not run back in the $250,000 Coronation Futurity this Sunday, trainer Roger Attfield said.
Tiz a Slam was not among the 18 nominations for the Coronation Futurity, which is restricted to Canadian-bred 2-year-olds and will be run over 1 1/8 miles on Tapeta.
Lazzam, second in the United Arab Emirates 2000 Guineas in Dubai in February, was recently acquired for approximately $75,000 and will join trainer Richard Baltas’s stable in California this week.
Lazzam was sold at the Tattersalls Autumn horses in training sale in England last month to Jamie Lloyd and David Meah. Lloyd, a former trainer in Southern California, is a bloodstock agent in England. Meah, also active in bloodstock, is Baltas’s assistant trainer.
Union Strike, who finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Saturday, will be pointed to the $300,000 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 10.
“That will do for her,” owner Mick Ruis said on Sunday.
Union Strike won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3 for her first win. She was trained by Shelbe Ruis at the time. Craig Dollase took over training of Mick Ruis’s horses in October after the owner had a professional split with his daughter. Mick Ruis shares ownership of the stable with his wife, Wendy.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Well-known in Europe, Irish jockey Seamus Heffernan introduced himself to American racing fans on Saturday aboard Highland Reel in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita.
Heffernan was impossible to ignore, essentially stealing the race at 1 1/2 miles on the pacesetter Highland Reel, who led by as many as seven lengths and won by 1 3/4 lengths over the New York star Flintshire.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Obviously, winner of Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, will race as a 9-year-old in 2017 with the goal of a sixth consecutive appearance in a Breeders’ Cup race at Del Mar next fall.
Obviously was beaten in four straight runnings of the BC Mile from 2012-15 and raced in the Turf Sprint for the first time this year. Ridden by Flavien Prat, Obviously led throughout the about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course to win by a nose over Om.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday no plans have been finalized for Obviously’s next start.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three of trainer Bob Baffert’s mainstays – Drefong, Dortmund, and Hoppertunity – will remain in training next year.
Drefong, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Saturday, could race once more this year, in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on opening day of Santa Anita’s main winter meeting Dec. 26, Baffert said.
Hoppertunity finished fourth on Saturday in the Classic behind stablemate Arrogate. Baffert said his main goal for the early part of 2017 is the Dubai World Cup, in which Hoppertunity finished third behind California Chrome this year.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Parting will be such sweet sorrow for trainer Richard Mandella when he sends Beholder off to Kentucky, where she will begin her new life as a broodmare. Mandella admitted Sunday morning that he was “dragging his feet” on arranging a flight to take Beholder to Kentucky.
“She’ll probably be here another week or so,” he said.
Beholder won the Distaff on Friday in a memorable duel with Songbird. Both will win Eclipse Awards in their respective divisions. The victory was the third in a Breeders’ Cup race for Beholder.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Songbird, who suffered the first loss of her career when beaten a nose by Beholder in a thrilling Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Friday, will head to Kentucky this week for a brief freshening at WinStar Farm before resuming her campaign next year at age 4, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Sunday morning at Santa Anita.
This is the same itinerary Hollendorfer used last year with Songbird after she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Miss Southern Miss and Metaboss are recovering from injuries that forced them out of the Breeders’ Cup.
Miss Southern Miss, who missed Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf because of a sore shin, will undergo X-rays next week to determine how long she will be sidelined. Trainer Keith Desormeaux said Miss Southern Miss likely will miss 30 to 45 days of training.
Owned by Pete Cantrell, Miss Southern Miss won the Surfer Girl Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 10.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There are two Grade 1 races at the Del Mar fall meeting, which runs from next Friday through Dec. 4. Both are $300,000 races on turf – the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on Dec. 3 and the Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile Dec. 4.
The first graded stakes of the meeting is the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs on Nov. 19. Mastery, a stylish maiden-race winner for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita in October, is among the candidates for the $100,000 race.
