OZONE PARK, N.Y. – El Areeb’s 11 1/4-length victory in last month’s Grade 3 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct apparently didn’t scare anybody off, as nine 3-year-olds were entered Wednesday to face him in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Wither Stakes here.
El Areeb, a son of Exchange Rate trained by Cal Lynch, drew post 4 in the field, set to go 1 1/16 miles. Trevor McCarthy will ride. El Areeb has won three consecutive races, including the Jerome on a sealed, muddy inner track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice was at Belmont Park on Wednesday accompanying horses back and forth from her barn to the training track.
On this chilly, overcast morning, work was probably therapeutic for Rice, whose father, Clyde, died Monday at his home in Anthony, Fla., at the age of 79.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Conquest Daddyo, who won a stakes at Woodbine at 2 and last year at 3, makes his California debut at Santa Anita this weekend.
Trainer John Sadler said Conquest Daddyo will run in the $200,000 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf Saturday or in an optional claimer Sunday. Sadler hoped to run Conquest Daddyo in the San Gabriel Stakes here Jan. 7, but the colt was scratched when the race was transferred from turf to dirt because of wet weather.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bad Ju Ju, the winner of the Kalookan Queen Stakes at Santa Anita in December, is out of training with a minor injury, trainer Peter Miller said last weekend.
Bad Ju Ju was last of five in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes on Jan. 21.
“She came out of the race with a bruised cannon bone,” Miller said. “She’s going to get 60 to 90 days. She should be fine.”
The $1 million Pacific Classic will be run Aug. 19 at Del Mar and will be televised by NBC Sports Network, the track announced Wednesday.
The race will have added attention this year with Del Mar hosting the Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 3-4. The Pacific Classic is a key West Coast prep for the $6 million BC Classic. Both races are run at 1 1/4 miles. The winner of the Pacific Classic will receive a fees-paid berth in the BC Classic if nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program.
Like many trainers, Luis Carvajal Jr. has found it difficult to grow his stable. Owners today seem to flock to the bigger operations, which puts added pressure on small to medium-sized outfits.
Fortunately for Carvajal, Imperial Hint keeps improving and appears set for a successful 4-year-old season. He has won his last two races and earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for his convincing victory in the Fire Plug Stakes at Laurel Park on Jan. 14.
Delaware Park has scheduled the same 11 stakes as a year ago for its 81-day season in 2017. The stakes will be worth a combined $2.05 million.
The Grade 1, $750,000 Delaware Handicap will be run for the 80th time July 15. The 1 1/4-mile race for fillies and mares was won last year by Delaware-based I'm a Chatterbox, who also won the local prep, the $100,000 Obeah Stakes. I'm a Chatterbox went on to win the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland later in the season.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Sue Martin, a 62-year-old great-grandmother who rode her first winner back in 1973 at Les Bois Park in Idaho, got her first riding victory since 2014 on Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs, scoring a 25-1 upset with Blue Haze of Fire in a maiden $12,500 claiming race.
Valadorna, who was a close, closing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November, won her 3-year-old debut in the fifth race last Friday at Fair Grounds. The odds-on favorite in a first-level allowance, Valadorna was slow into the race from post 1 and was last under Julien Leparoux for much of the trip. Leparoux swung her wide at the three-sixteenths pole, and Valadorna swept on to victory.
