Sun, 12/04/2016 - 17:43

Unique Bella will skip Starlet to await Santa Ynez

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.

Sun, 12/04/2016 - 14:57

Sunbean likely to run in Louisiana Champions Day Classic

Ann Switalski/Hodges Photography
Sunbean won the Louisiana Cup Turf Classic in August.

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.

Sun, 12/04/2016 - 14:43

Mo Tom returns to New Orleans fresh and fit

Barbara D. Livingston
Tom Amoss will try to win his first Super Derby with Mo Tom.

Mo Tom is back at Fair Grounds again, 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 those races.

Sat, 12/03/2016 - 11:16

California Chrome works five furlongs for Winter Challenge

Barbara D. Livingston
California Chrome will have one prep before the Pegasus Cup thanks to a newly created stakes at Los Alamitos.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Two weeks before his final scheduled start in his home state, California Chrome worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 before dawn at Los Alamitos on Saturday.

Ridden by exercise rider Dihigi Gladney, California Chrome worked alone, going the first quarter-mile in 25 seconds and a half-mile in 48.60 seconds. He quickened noticeably in the stretch and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.80, according to Los Alamitos clockers.

Fri, 12/02/2016 - 15:54

Forever Unbridled in light training

Barbara D. Livingston
The Apple Blossom at Oaklawn is one possible early 2017 target for Forever Unbridled.

Forever Unbridled, who somewhat quietly put together an excellent 2016 season, has taken up residence again in trainer Dallas Stewart’s Fair Grounds barn and is in light training as her connections plot a 2017 campaign for the soon-to-be 5-year-old.

Forever Unbridled made her first start this year Jan. 30 in the Houston Ladies Classic, but one thing Stewart already knows is that Forever Unbridled will be on a different schedule next year.

Fri, 12/02/2016 - 15:40

Valadorna headed to New Orleans to prep for 2017 season

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Valadorna (outside) could target the Rachel Alexandra in February at Fair Grounds.

Valadorna, who finished a close, somewhat-troubled second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, will have an early 2017 Fair Grounds campaign, trainer Mark Casse said Thursday.

Valadorna is getting a break at the Florida farm of her owner, Stonestreet Stables. Casse said she would be shipped to New Orleans in two or three weeks.

“I don’t see her missing a whole lot of time,” he said.

Fri, 12/02/2016 - 14:26

Liberty Park has makings of good one

DEL MAR, Calif. – Liberty Park, a full brother to stakes winner Prospect Park, makes his debut Sunday in race 3, a maiden race at one mile on turf for 2-year-olds. The race was split into two divisions, with the second one being run as race 9.

Liberty Park, a son of Tapit out of the Bertrando mare Quiet Romance, is trained by Clifford Sise Jr., who trains Prospect Park.

“He can run,” Sise said. “I’d have preferred to run him on dirt, and there was a race on dirt a week ago, but I wanted to get one more gate work into him before I ran him.”

Fri, 12/02/2016 - 14:20

Silent Bird's next challenge: two turns in the San Pasqual

Barbara D. Livingston
Silent Bird enters Thursday's allowance feature on a three-race win streak.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Mark Glatt has been forced to take his time with Silent Bird, but that patience is being rewarded. Silent Bird’s victory in an allowance race at Del Mar on Thursday was his fourth straight, all in sprints, and now he will head around two turns, the province of his sire, Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird.

“He’ll stretch out now,” Glatt said, adding that the Grade 2, $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 1 would be his next race.

Fri, 12/02/2016 - 14:06

Popular gelding Frazil retired

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Frazil scored his biggest win in the 2011 Gravesend Handicap.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Frazil, a 10-year-old gelding who became a fan favorite racing mostly in the claiming ranks on the New York Racing Association circuit, has been retired.

Frazil finished seventh of nine in a $12,500 claiming race at Aqueduct on Wednesday and came out of the race “pretty sore,” said Michael Oliveto, managing partner of Hibiscus Stables, which owns Frazil with trainer Steve Klesaris.

“We just all looked at each other and realized the proper thing to do with this horse is call it a career,” Oliveto said.

Fri, 12/02/2016 - 13:30

Paulassilverlining, By the Moon still have work to do

Barbara D. Livingston
Paulassilverlining will likely next race in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, owner Vincent Scuderi said.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unlike many who participated in the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Michelle Nevin’s pair of older female sprinters, Paulassilverlining and By the Moon, are not headed for retirement, the breeding shed, or a vacation in the near future.

Paulassilverlining, third, beaten two lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, worked five furlongs in 1:03.63 on Friday over Belmont Park’s main track. Nevin said she might run in next Saturday’s $125,000 Garland of Roses Stakes over the inner track.