HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Rainbow 6 survived for the eighth consecutive day Sunday, with the carryover standing at nearly $128,000 when racing resumes Wednesday
There will be two $43,000 allowance races in Wednesday’s Rainbow 6 sequence, the sixth at six furlongs on the main track for fillies and mares, and the eighth, which is scheduled to be run at five furlongs for 2-year-old fillies on the grass.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The only thing hotter than the weather here of late has been trainer Todd Pletcher, who completed a spectacular eight-day span that included seven stakes wins when Zulu cruised to an impressive victory in Sunday’s Tamarac Stakes.
Pletcher, in search of an unprecedented 14th consecutive Gulfstream Park training title, won both the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday with Stanford and the Grade 3 Rampart with Eskenformoney on Saturday after having dominated Juvenile Showcase Day with four stakes victories one week earlier.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jockey Ronnie Allen Jr. was aboard two of the most impressive winners at Tampa Bay Downs last week, as Emyvale Court and Muggsamatic both rallied to take turf routes to close out last Friday’s card.
Emyvale Court prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths in a second-level allowance/optional $32,000 claimer. The 4-year-old Stormy Atlantic filly now has three wins and four runner-up finishes from 11 starts and $93,310 in earnings. Trainer Tom Proctor declined to comment on the horse’s performance, saying he refuses all media requests as a rule.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – If Richies Sweetheart gets off to as fast a start as a broodmare as she did in most of her races, then trainer Larry Rivelli will have a lot to look forward to with her babies.
Richies Sweetheart scored one of the biggest victories of her career in the 2015 Lightning City Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, but in last Saturday’s edition of the five-furlong turf sprint, her career came to a close. She briefly flashed the speed that made her a four-time stakes winner but then faded to finish ninth of 12. It was her fourth straight loss.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Boosted by the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita on Nov. 4-5, handle at California tracks soared in November and showed an increase for the year through the end of November, according to data presented at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Trainer Steve Miyadi was fined $750 on Thursday for his action in a physical altercation with jockey and California Horse Racing Board commissioner Alex Solis in September at Santa Anita.
The stewards cited Miyadi for disorderly conduct in the incident, which led to the trainer being briefly detained by Arcadia, Calif., police. The stewards suspended Miyadi for four days, but credited him with time served when he was summarily suspended by the racing board in the days after the incident.
In a free moment Thursday, Los Alamitos steward Luis Jauregui watched a replay of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, in which Blame gave Zenyatta the only loss of her career. Jauregui was not focused as much on the horses as he was on Garrett Gomez, who rode Blame.
“I remember there was a pack in front of him and he was on the rail,” Jauregui recalled. “He rode a perfect race. He pushed out turning for home. He gathered his horse and finished strong.
“He showed great timing. He was the only guy who could say he beat Zenyatta.”
Yockey’s Warrior, the sharp winner of the Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds in his most recent start, had an easy half-mile workout last Sunday as his connections plot a course for early 2017.
Trainer Al Stall, who owns part of Yockey’s Warrior, said there are three possible spots: the Duncan Kenner on Jan. 21 at Fair Grounds, the Palos Verdes at Santa Anita, or the King Cotton at Oaklawn.
“We’re very happy with how he is right now,” Stall said Thursday. “You know a horse is doing well when they almost get run over by a loose horse, and that happened this morning.”
Gun Runner, who won his first Grade 1 race Nov. 25 in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, is in steady training at Fair Grounds, trainer Steve Asmussen said, but his connections have not settled on a winter racing schedule, though Gun Runner is definitely slated to remain in training at age 4.
“We just gave him a little freshening off winning the Clark before deciding what to do with him next,” Asmussen said.
Sticksstatelydude, who closed out his 3-year-old campaign with an impressive victory over Neolithic in the Grade 3 Discovery last month at Aqueduct, is being pointed for a race here on Jan. 28. Whether that race is the $12 million Pegasus or $400,000 Poseidon is still to be determined.
Sticksstatelydude worked Friday for the first time since shipping to Palm Meadows, going four furlongs in 49.59 seconds before galloping out in 1:03, according to Daily Racing Form.
