ARCADIA, Calif. – Unique Bella, a sharp maiden-race winner at Del Mar on Nov. 26, breezed a half-mile in 46.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday.
The easy workout did little to sway trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s plans. He said Unique Bella will make her next start in the $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 8 and not in Saturday’s $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The schedule that worked so well for Miss Temple City in 2016 is the template for her 2017 campaign.
After her season-ending victory Sunday in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes for older females at Del Mar, trainer Graham Motion said Miss Temple City would return to his barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland for a vacation, then get started in the spring at Keeneland, the site of two of her three Grade 1 victories this year.
After that, “we want to go to Royal Ascot and then hopefully here next year at this time,” Motion said.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Gerald Bennett won the Tampa Bay Downs training title outright for the first time at the 2015-16 meet and has served notice that it will take a giant effort to unseat him at the current meet.
Bennett, 72, swept the two stakes for juveniles here last Saturday, with Chance of Luck taking the $60,000 Inaugural Stakes by a neck and R Angel Katelyn wiring the $89,000 Sandpiper Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths.
Trainer Mike Dini unveiled a strong prospect for the Grade 3 Florida Oaks last Saturday, when Dynatail led from start to finish under jockey Ronnie Allen Jr. to win a $20,000 maiden special weight race by 2 1/4 lengths.
The performance atoned for the filly’s prior start Oct. 19 at the Meadowlands, where she appeared to be on her way to a front-running victory in a $25,000 maiden special weight race before bolting on the turn. Dini said Dynatail may have benefited from the addition of blinkers on Saturday.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Gerald Bennett won the Tampa Bay Downs training title outright for the first time at the 2015-16 meet and has served notice that it will take a giant effort to unseat him at the current meet.
Bennett, 72, swept the two stakes for juveniles here last Saturday, with Chance of Luck taking the $60,000 Inaugural Stakes by a neck and R Angel Katelyn wiring the $89,000 Sandpiper Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths.
Mo Tom is back at Fair Grounds and has unfinished business in New Orleans.
The 3-year-old Mo Tom won the Lecomte Stakes in January, then finished a very troubled third in the Risen Star Stakes and a similarly unlucky fourth in the Louisiana Derby. Mo Tom almost certainly would have won the Risen Star had he found clear passage and at worst would have run second in the Louisiana Derby. Gun Runner, who most recently beat older horses in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, won both of those races.
A one-two finish by Annals of Time and Beach Patrol gave New York-based trainer Chad Brown a sweep of the exacta in Saturday’s $302,415 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. The result helped Brown clarify his 2017 goals for his 4-year-old turf runners.
Annals of Time made his fourth start, and first in a Grade 1, in the Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf. Ridden by Javier Castellano, Annals of Time closed from fifth between horses in the final furlong to pass Beach Patrol and win by 1 1/2 lengths as a 5-1 shot.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Finest City returned to serious training over the weekend, a month after her win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.
Saturday, Finest City worked a half-mile in 49.80 seconds at Santa Anita. Trainer Ian Kruljac said Finest City is scheduled to make her 2017 debut in the $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs on Jan. 21. The BC Filly and Mare Sprint was run at seven furlongs.
“She worked a nice half-mile,” Kruljac said.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Unique Bella, a sharp maiden race winner at Del Mar on Nov. 26, breezed a half-mile mile in 46.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday.
The easy workout did little to sway trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s plans. He said Unique Bella will make her next start in the $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 8 and not Saturday’s $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos.
Entries for Saturday’s Louisiana Champions Day card at Fair Grounds were taken this past Friday, and Sunbean, one of the leading lights of Louisiana-bred racing, was cross-entered in the $100,000 Turf and the $150,000 Classic. But trainer Ron Faucheux said Saturday that Sunbean “more than likely” would wind up in the Classic, and that the Turf would be considered as an option only if the race were moved to the main track because of wet conditions.
