ARCADIA, Calif. – Arrogate, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, is in need of a workout this weekend to stay on schedule for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28.
“If I can squeeze a breeze on Saturday or Sunday, I’ll be fine,” trainer Bob Baffert said Friday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California-bred stakes winner Chao Chom, who was pulled up in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes on Dec. 26, will be out six months after X-rays revealed a cannon-bone fracture.
Trainer Gary Stute said Friday that the condylar fracture was a “hairline” break, and he expects the 4-year-old filly to return later in 2017. Chao Chom won the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes on Nov. 13 at Del Mar before she was pulled in the La Brea.
Sired by Tizbud, Chao Chom has won two races and $146,945 from eight starts.
ARCADIA, Calif. – American Gal, among the top 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita and one of the Kaleem Shah-owned runners previously trained by Bob Baffert, will be out 60 days after undergoing minor surgery to remove a chip from an ankle.
Her new trainer, Doug O’Neill, said Friday that American Gal had filling in an ankle, and X-rays revealed the chip. “She’s here [at Santa Anita], she’ll go to the farm in a few days, and in 60 days she’ll be back, ready to roll.”
Fair Grounds received approval from the track stewards to begin accepting entries Wednesday from horses stabled in barn 14, which remains under quarantine because of two equine herpesvirus cases there.
No new cases in that barn, however, have been reported since Dec. 31, and barring another case, the barn’s quarantine will expire Jan. 13, the day for which entries Wednesday were being taken.
The Brad Cox barn’s strong run through the Fair Grounds race meeting shows no sign of slowing on Saturday, when Cox sends out the very promising 3-year-old filly Dontmesswithjoanne.
Dontmesswithjoanne is one of 12 fillies (Legallini is entered for the main track only) in the sixth race, a one-mile turf race open to first-level allowance horses or $50,000 claimers. Entries for the race were taken last Wednesday, at which point only one barn on the backstretch had been quarantined because of the equine herpesvirus outbreak at Fair Grounds.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After looking into the possibility of leasing a horse for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup, Starlight Pegasus Partners announced Wednesday that it intends to run its own Neolithic in the Pegasus here on Jan. 28.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Grade 3 Hutcheson, a fixture locally since 1954, will not be run as scheduled on Saturday due to a lack of interest. Only 17 were nominated to the six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds.
Two of the horses who were in the entry box for the Hutcheson, Sonic Mule and Recruiting Ready, will start instead in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man on Saturday. Also in the Mucho Macho Man are Cavil, Even Thunder, Han Sense, Hemsworth, Perro Rojo, Skyler’s Scramjet, State of Honor, Sweetontheladies, and Talk Logistics.
Gun Runner, the 2016 Clark Handicap winner, is likely out of consideration for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in south Florida on Jan. 28 due to the equine herpesvirus outbreak at Fair Grounds, the New Orleans track where the 4-year-old is stabled.
The Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 4 could come up deeper than anticipated. Accelerate, the runner-up to Midnight Storm in the Grade 2 San Pasqual, is a likely starter, while Midnight Storm has not been ruled out of the 1 1/16-mile San Antonio.
Silent Bird, the likely favorite Friday in a one-mile allowance race, is another San Antonio candidate.
But the richest horses likely for the San Antonio are the Bob Baffert-trained Hoppertunity and Mor Spirit. Baffert said Wednesday that both are aiming for the $300,000 San Antonio.
Unique Bella worked a half-mile Wednesday for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and could start favored Sunday when she makes her stakes debut against a good field in the Grade 2, seven-furlong Santa Ynez at Santa Anita.
Unique Bella is perhaps the most highly regarded 3-year-old filly in California even though she has started just twice. She finished second in her debut and then won a Del Mar maiden by more than 10 lengths Nov. 26.
Sired by Tapit and produced by Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Unrivaled Belle, Unique Bella worked alone in 47.80 seconds.
