Zipessa, who quietly had a very strong 2016 campaign, will return to race as a 5-year-old in 2017, trainer Mike Stidham said.
Zipessa has won only twice this year, capturing a Fair Grounds allowance race to start her season and winning the Grade 3 Penny at Parx Racing. She was third after tracking a strong pace in the Grade 1 Beverly D. and second in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive to Avenge, who subsequently finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Seven Louisiana-bred fillies and mares were entered, but the $50,000 Si Cima Stakes on Sunday at Fair Grounds looks like a two-horse race.
Pacific Pink has three wins and a second from her four Fair Grounds starts, and she won the $100,000 Champions Day Ladies last December. Big World is a relative newcomer to these parts, a Louisiana-bred 3-year-old with enough talent to have won the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes last November.
Trainer Donnie Von Hemel hopes the third time’s the charm in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks on Wednesday, when he sends out Ready to Confess and Ruby Sioux. Von Hemel ran second in the inaugural Zia Park Oaks in 2013 with Gold Medal Dancer, then returned last year and was third with Sweet Opportunity.
“We feel like we’re knocking on the door and need to get it done,” said Von Hemel.
When front-runner What a View and jockey Tyler Baze blazed to the lead in the Breeders’ Cup Mile two weeks ago at Santa Anita, setting absurd fractions of 21.81 and 44.61 seconds, trainer Kenny Black was aghast. “I couldn’t believe Tyler,” Black said. “I don’t know what the hell he was thinking. The nerve – he was actually following instructions.”
Yes, watching the BC Mile unfold, one had to wonder – what was Baze doing with What a View? As the trainer acknowledged, Baze was riding to directions.
DEL MAR, Calif. – After racing in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf two weeks ago, the Japanese mare Nuovo Record took up residence here at Del Mar and on Thursday will attempt to add a United States win to her ledger. She heads the field in the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap for female turf runners.
The Red Carpet, at 1 3/8 miles, kicks off a Thanksgiving Week schedule of six graded stakes races run over four days. Five are on grass, one on dirt.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gun Runner is scheduled for an easy breeze Monday at Churchill Downs as his connections consider running the standout 3-year-old in Friday’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap here.
David Fiske, racing manager for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, said Gun Runner will run in the Clark or ship to Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs will add 1,800 new seats in time for the 2018 Kentucky Derby as part of a $37 million renovation project, Churchill Downs Inc. officials announced this week.
The new seating will be part of the Starting Gate Suites, which will comprise luxury suites, interior dining tables, and third-floor grandstand seats, and will encompass 77,250 square feet of new space adjacent to the Jockey Club Suites on the north end of the track.
DEL MAR, Calif. – For the second straight racing day, a single ticket took down the pick six at Del Mar, with Thursday’s winner receiving $31,947.20. According to Del Mar's mutuels department, the winning ticket was purchased through TwinSpires.com.
The pick six handled just $49,250 on Thursday, as patrons treaded lightly after a blockbuster opening weekend that produced two carryovers and, on Sunday, a single ticket worth $1,041.696.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The multiple stakes winner Conquest Enforcer is joining trainer Phil D’Amato’s barn at Santa Anita after being purchased at auction earlier this week for $785,000 in Kentucky.
Conquest Enforcer, 3, a colt by Into Mischief, won four times in seven starts for trainer Mark Casse, with all wins in stakes races, three at Woodbine and one at Belmont. He was sold as part of the Conquest Stables dispersal at Keeneland November.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Richard Mandella made a quick trip to and from Kentucky this week for the sales, but he’ll be headed back soon to visit Beholder, who is scheduled to leave Mandella’s Santa Anita stable early next week to begin her new career as a broodmare at the Spendthrift Farm of owner B. Wayne Hughes.
Mandella joked that he was going to try and talk Hughes into “seeing if she could go to Florida in January,” referring to running her in the inaugural $12 million Pegasus at Gulfstream Park.
