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.
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.
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.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dale Romans is hoping the wonders of equine medicine will once again make Cherry Wine a player on the big stage.
After nailing Nyquist for second behind Exaggerator in the Preakness last May, Cherry Wine failed to hit the board in all four subsequent races. But a throat operation after his last start Nov. 19 at Churchill Downs appears to have remedied the root of the colt’s problems, said Romans.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Fans of turf racing are suffering under their umbrellas in Southern California this winter.
While much-needed rain continues to aid the environment and fill the state’s reservoirs, turf racing at Santa Anita has been a victim of the conditions. There are no turf races at Santa Anita on Saturday, and wet weather over the weekend makes turf racing doubtful for Sunday.
The last few weeks have seen persistent rain throughout the state.
“We didn’t expect this much weather,” said track senior vice president Joe Morris.
It was a solid year in 2016 for veteran trainer Wes Hawley, but it was a great year for owner Wes Hawley.
Hawley, a 53-year-old Oklahoma native, owns outright the 6-year-old mare Steel Cut, who earned $226,550 last year. He owns three-quarters of Hawaakom, who banked $310,953 during 2016 while campaigning for Hawley and his partner Stephan Smoot. That’s a half-million right there, less the other sundry and considerable purses Hawley picked up owning horses himself or in partnership, though less, of course, expenses and reinvestment.
NEW ORLEANS – You can still find 57-year-old David Carroll out on the Fair Grounds oval most every morning doing what he has done since he was a 6-year-old in Ireland – riding horses.
Carroll has wintered at Fair Grounds for the better part of two decades. Things right now are both better and worse than they were a year ago.
Worse because Carroll, his stable down to a handful of modest runners, finally gave up being a head trainer at the end of the 2015-16 Fair Grounds meet, but better because he has settled comfortably into his job as an assistant to trainer Mark Casse.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The recent wet weather in Southern California has forced trainers to work around the rain, but even though Arrogate’s preparation for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park could have been more severely impacted, he looked sensational during an extended gallop Wednesday at Santa Anita as he nears his final prerace workout this weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gormley and Mastery, a pair of Grade 1-winning 3-year-olds, both worked a half-mile Wednesday in preparation for stakes, which might even include a head-to-head matchup.
Gormley, the winner of the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes last fall, went in 51.20 seconds under Victor Espinoza in his first drill since capturing the Sham Stakes on Jan. 7. Trainer John Shirreffs said Gormley could run next in the Grade 3, $150,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 4 or await the Grade 2, $400,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 11.
“He came out of the race well,” Shirreffs said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 winner Ralis has replaced the stakes-placed Semper Fortis as a starter for owners Paul and Zillah Reddam in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said they made the decision after watching the two train.
Semper Fortis will be redirected to the $400,000 Poseidon Stakes on the Pegasus World Cup undercard. Both races are run at 1 1/8 miles on dirt.
“We swapped those two,” O’Neill said on Wednesday. “Ralis is doing a little bit better.”
