Fri, 09/30/2016 - 18:01

Lord Nelson likely favorite in SA Sprint Championship

BENOIT PHOTO
Lord Nelson and jockey Flavien Prat win the Bing Crosby Stakes on Sunday at Del Mar.

Lord Nelson will be favored to win the $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 8 and is likely to be trainer Bob Baffert’s lone runner in the Grade 1 race at six furlongs.

Lord Nelson won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 31 and is considered a leading candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint here on Nov. 5.
Baffert said Friday he will not run Power Jam, winner of the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 5. Power Jam has been taken out of training, Baffert said.

Baffert did not elaborate on the nature of Power Jam’s condition.

Fri, 09/30/2016 - 17:52

Nyquist back in California, next move uncertain

Michael Amoruso
Nyquist has not started since a fourth-place finish in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist returned to California on Wednesday and was on the track Thursday morning for a jog, but what comes next is uncertain.

“He’s back here, he looks fantastic, but plans are up in the air right now,” trainer Doug O’Neill said.

O’Neill said that if Nyquist is to run in the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita the weekend of Nov. 4-5, he will run in the Classic. He said there is no interest, for instance, in the Dirt Mile.

Fri, 09/30/2016 - 17:44

Texas Red back in training, possible for SA winter meet

Texas Red, the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner who has not raced since the 2015 Travers, returned to trainer Keith Desormeaux’s barn at Santa Anita on Thursday and is being pointed to the winter meeting at Santa Anita, which begins Dec. 26.

Texas Red has had a series of minor injuries that have kept him on the sidelines for more than a year. He was near a return earlier this year at Santa Anita, but needed more time. Desormeaux said he has been recuperating at nearby Peacefield Farm in Southern California.

Fri, 09/30/2016 - 14:30

Jockey Collins paralyzed following Albuquerque spill

Coady Photography
Jockey Dennis Collins, pictured at Arapahoe Park this past summer, was injured in a spill at Albuquerque.

Jockey Dennis Collins could be facing permanent paralysis from the waist down following a spill last Sunday at the Downs at Albuquerque. The 53-year-old remained at a New Mexico hospital Friday, recovering from surgery to stabilize his spine due to an extensive T-4 compression fracture, according to his fiancée, trainer Heather Brock.

The surgery was performed Monday at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Fri, 09/30/2016 - 13:47

Keeneland: Nine graded stakes on opening weekend

Shigeki Kikkawa
Jazzy Times will ship in from Southern California for next Friday's Grade 2 Phoenix.

Keeneland begins its 17-day meet next Friday with the usual barrage of major Breeders’ Cup preps on the opening three-day FallStars Weekend. Nine graded stakes, with all but two carrying Win and You’re In provisions toward the Nov. 4-5 Breeders’ Cup, will be run Friday through Sunday at the Lexington, Ky., track.

Here are some quick takes on the weekend races. Entries for the Friday opener will be drawn Tuesday, with a 72-hour draw schedule also in effect for Saturday and Sunday and for most of a meet that runs through Oct. 29.

Fri, 09/30/2016 - 12:26

Tepin works as decision on Breeders' Cup prep looms

Michael Burns
Tepin will prep for a title defense in the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Mile by running in either the Shadwell Turf Mile or the First Lady, both Grade 1 one-mile turf events next Saturday at Keeneland.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With a decision on her next start expected Sunday morning, Tepin was sent through her final pre-race work when breezing a half-mile in 49 seconds Friday morning on the Saratoga turf.

Tepin, winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile against males and a leading contender for 2016 Horse of the Year, will prep for a title defense in the Nov. 5 BC Mile by running in either the Shadwell Turf Mile or the First Lady, both Grade 1 one-mile turf events next Saturday at Keeneland.

Thu, 09/29/2016 - 16:26

Haveyougoneaway puts in stiff half-mile

Debbie Roma
Haveyougoneaway notched her third straight win with the Saturday victory in the Ballerina.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Haveyougoneaway, the New York-bred filly who won a pair of stakes at Saratoga, including the Grade 1 Ballerina, worked four furlongs in 47 seconds over the Belmont main track Thursday morning. She is preparing for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.

With the exercise rider Orlando Tapia maintaining a good hold on Haveyougoneaway, the filly went her first quarter in 23.11 seconds and her second quarter in 23.89.

Thu, 09/29/2016 - 16:26

Joseph A. Gimma gets baker's dozen

Barbara D. Livingston
Iron Mizz, with John Velazquez aboard, wins the Seeking the Ante Stakes by three-quarters of a length.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The $150,000 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes on Sunday drew a field of 13 New York-bred juvenile fillies, while the $150,000 Bertram F. Bongard for New York-bred males on the same card managed to draw a field of only five.

The Gimma drew Iron Mizz, who won the Seeking the Ante Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 26 by three-quarters of a length over Code Red, who is back in this field.

Ribbonite won the Lady Finger by 6 3/4 lengths at Finger Lakes on Sept. 10, giving Robbie Davis his first stakes win as a trainer. She is wheeling back on three weeks’ rest in the Gimma.

Thu, 09/29/2016 - 16:16

Temperence Hill draws long-winded set

Michael Burns
Melmich, ridden by Eurico Da Silva, holds off Freitag to win the Elgin Stakes, one of six stakes on Canadian Millions Night.

ELMONT, N.Y. – A field of eight marathon types was entered in the $200,000 Temperence Hill, to be run Sunday at Belmont, and the 1 5/8-mile race appears wide open.

Baccelo, who won the Grade 3 Iselin at Monmouth and was third in the Seattle Slew Stakes here, might rate slight favoritism if he runs. Trainer David Jacobson had mentioned that he was pointing Baccelo to the Grade 2 Kelso going a mile here next Saturday.

Thu, 09/29/2016 - 16:16

Miss Grillo lures European trio

Debbie Roma
P.G. Johnson winner Coasted runs Sunday in the Miss Grillo.

ELMONT, N.Y. – There were no European shippers for Saturday’s Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, but three horses who have been racing exclusively in Europe will be running in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park.

The Miss Grillo, for 2-year-old fillies on turf, is one of four stakes on Sunday’s card. The others are the $200,000 Temperence Hill Invitational at 1 5/8 miles on dirt, the $150,000 Bertram Bongard for New York-bred juvenile colts and geldings on dirt, and the $150,000 Joseph A. Gimma for New York-bred juvenile fillies on dirt.