Wed, 11/09/2016 - 15:16

Discovery attracts a crowd of 3-year-olds

Debra A. Roma
Gift Box will break from post 9 in Saturday's Travers.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The last graded stakes opportunity to run long against their own age group led to a rush to the entry box as 11 3-year-olds were entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct.

Three horses left in Arrogate’s wake in the Travers at Saratoga – Gift Box, Governor Malibu, and My Man Sam – head the field for the 1 1/8-mile Discovery.

Wed, 11/09/2016 - 14:16

Texas Chrome gets break until January

Dustin Orona Photography
Texas Chrome's Oklahoma Derby win was his fourth stakes victory of the year.

Texas Chrome is done for the season, according to trainer J.R. Caldwell. A 3-year-old who won the Super Derby and Oklahoma Derby, Texas Chrome has returned to his Remington Park base after a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

“We’re looking at the Oaklawn meet,” Caldwell said. “He’s done until at least Oaklawn.”

Oaklawn, the Hot Springs, Ark., track, opens Jan. 13. Caldwell will have a stable based there, he said, and hopes to move a division of horses into Churchill Downs.

Wed, 11/09/2016 - 12:34

Parx apprentice Ocasio in contention for Eclipse Award

Five-pound apprentice Luis Ocasio, third in the Parx Racing rider standings with 65 wins, won the first race at Aqueduct last Saturday. It was the first New York victory for the 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico, and came a day after he was thrown hard to the Aqueduct turf.

Ocasio somersaulted off his mount in Friday’s eighth race there, Bullheaded Boy, who clipped heels in upper stretch. Ocasio was taken to Jamaica Hospital for X-rays, which came back negative.

Wed, 11/09/2016 - 11:40

Phlash Phelps targets Aqueduct's Artie Schiller

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Phlash Phelps wins last year's Maryland Million Turf.

Phlash Phelps’s impressive repeat victory in the Maryland Million Turf at Laurel Park on Oct. 22 has earned him a trip to New York, according to his trainer, Rodney Jenkins.

Phlash Phelps came into the Maryland Million Turf off troubled trips in his prior two starts, the Grade 2 Commonwealth Turf Cup and the Find Stakes for statebreds at Laurel. Jockey Victor Carrasco took no chances in the Maryland Million Turf, giving up ground while four wide on both turns of the one-mile race.

Wed, 11/09/2016 - 10:50

Forever Unbridled done for year, will wage 2017 campaign

Barbara D. Livingston
Forever Unbridled trains at Santa Anita Park on Oct. 31.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Forever Unbridled loomed boldly in midstretch of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff for a fleeting moment last weekend at Santa Anita. The epic duel between Beholder and Songbird would have been foiled if she had surged past them.

“It did look like she might do it there for a second, didn’t it?” said Dallas Stewart, who trains Forever Unbridled for owner-breeder Charles Fipke.

But Forever Unbridled could do no better than third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by the top two.

Tue, 11/08/2016 - 19:57

Futurity, Starlet highlights of Los Alamitos December meet

Los Alamitos will run four stakes during its eight-day winter meeting in December, including two Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds.

The Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity and the Starlet Stakes, both Grade 1, $300,000 races at 1 1/16 miles, will highlight the Dec. 10 program. The Los Alamitos Futurity had a purse of $350,000-guaranteed in 2015.

Tue, 11/08/2016 - 14:50

Stakes winner Toowindytohaulrox euthanized

ARCADIA, Calif. – Toowindytohaulrox, the winner of two turf stakes in the last year in Southern California, was euthanized on Monday as a result of an injury suffered during a workout at Santa Anita, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

“He took a bad step breezing in the middle of the turn,” D’Amato said. “It was a little misstep and two strides later my rider pulled him up.

“It was too late. He had a catastrophic injury.”

Tue, 11/08/2016 - 14:47

Free Rose, Blackjackcat target Hollywood Derby

Benoit & Associates
Trainer Richard Baltas said Free Rose is likely to start in the $200,000 Twilight Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Free Rose and Blackjackcat, second and third in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita last Friday, are likely to run in the $300,000 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Dec. 3, their trainers said.

Free Rose was beaten a half-length by Frank Conversation after setting the pace to the stretch of the Twilight Derby.

“He came out of it all right,” trainer Richard Baltas said.

Tue, 11/08/2016 - 14:28

Texas Ryano eyes Hollywood Turf Cup

Barbara D. Livingston
Ashleyluvssugar (left) gets a feel for the track Saturday at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – One of the Southern California-based horses who ran in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last Saturday might race again this year, while another probably won’t.

Ashleyluvssugar, who finished fifth, will be pointed for a 2017 campaign. Texas Ryano, who finished sixth, will be considered for the $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Nov. 24 at Del Mar, said trainer Carla Gaines. Texas Ryano closed from last in a field of 12 to finish 6 3/4 lengths behind race winner Highland Reel in the BC Turf.

Tue, 11/08/2016 - 14:08

Stevens to ride the Oaklawn meeting

Benoit & Associates
Gary Stevens plans to ride in Kentucky from mid-April through Kentucky Derby Day, May 7.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens will ride at Oaklawn Park in 2017.

Stevens said on Sunday that he plans to ride the Del Mar autumn meeting that begins on Friday and will relocate to Oaklawn Park before the track starts its three-month meeting on Jan. 13.

Stevens said he plans to return to California for major stakes next year, but said day-to-day opportunities in California have left him discouraged.

“I’m going to Oaklawn,” he said. "It's more money, more opportunities and more horses. I don’t have a lot of business.”