Mon, 09/23/2024 - 13:25

Trainer Rhone retiring after Canterbury meet

Bernell Rhone said he will be retiring from training after the close of the Canterbury Park meet on Saturday. He has four starters on the card at the Minnesota track, where he is a member of the Canterbury Hall of Fame.

“I’m getting out, but I’m not leaving,” he said. “All my best friends are all on the racetrack. I think I’ll still own a horse or two. I don’t want to get out. I just want to have more free time to do some things. I want to go to the Calgary Stampede. I want to see Yellowstone again, and the Grand Canyon.”

Mon, 09/23/2024 - 13:10

Sunlit Song getting a break

Coady Media
Sunlit Song is getting some time off on his trainer's farm.

Sunlit Song, who has run in the last four editions of the Remington Green, will miss Sunday’s renewal because he is getting some time off, according to trainer Mindy Willis.

Sunlit Song has won the Remington Green twice, in 2020 and 2023. He was second in the race in both 2021 and 2022.

Sunlit Song is the reigning Texas-bred of the year and overall has won 18 races from 45 starts for earnings of $757,520. The 9-year-old gelding races for Carolyn Barnett and Becky Harding.

Mon, 09/23/2024 - 13:10

White Abarrio returns to work tab in Saratoga

Barbara D. Livingston
White Abarrio will start once, in either the Cigar Mile or the Harlan's Holiday in December, before running in the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 25 of next year.

White Abarrio, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, breezed three furlongs in 39.22 seconds Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga, his first timed workout since he was returned to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. in June.

“It went well, the track was on the slower side – real slow,” Joseph said. “It was his first work back, I was very happy with it.”

Mon, 09/23/2024 - 11:40

Astronomer looking to spring upset in City of Hope Mile

Coady Media
Goliad, who won two races during the brief Kentucky Downs meet, is bypassing the City of Hope Mile and will head straight to the Breeders' Cup Mile.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Astronomer was less than two lengths from winning two stakes in one-mile turf races at the Del Mar summer meeting. The close finishes give trainer Simon Callaghan the expectation that Astronomer could produce a surprise result in Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita.

After finishing second by 1 1/4 lengths in the restricted Wickerr Stakes on July 21, Astronomer was third by a half-length in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 31.

“His last two races have been his best two races,” Callaghan said. “He’s kind of knocking on the door.”

Mon, 09/23/2024 - 11:35

German Group 1 win sends Rebel's Romance to BC Turf

Rebel's Romance at Meydan March 30 2024
Dubai Racing Club
Rebel’s Romance, winner of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf, is 4 for 5 this year as a 6-year-old.

Rebel’s Romance is scheduled to start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar for the second time after a win in Sunday’s Group 1 Preis Von Europa in Cologne, Germany.

Rebel’s Romance won the 2022 BC Turf at Keeneland, but did not start in the race at Santa Anita last year. Should Rebel’s Romance win the BC Turf later this fall, he would become the first two-time winner in non-consecutive years of a race first run in 1984.

Fri, 09/20/2024 - 15:12

Pat Mahony, longtime head of NYRA mutuels deparment, dies at 78

NYRA
Pat Mahony, who spent 50 years in the racing industry including several decades as the head of the NYRA mutuels department, died Thursday.

Pat Mahony, who spent 50 years in the racing industry including several decades as the head of the mutuels department of the New York Racing Association, died Thursday at his home in Florida, according to a press release from NYRA. He was 78.

As kind and professional an individual as there was at the racetrack, Mahony followed his grandfather Mort and father, Riggs, into the parimutuel business. The three worked at tracks across the country for more than a century.

Fri, 09/20/2024 - 15:00

D'Amato plans to run four in rich John Henry

Benoit Photo
Gold Phoenix earned a berth into the Breeders' Cup Turf with his third victory in the Del Mar Handicap.

Led by the recent stakes winner Gold Phoenix, trainer Phil D’Amato intends to have as many as four runners in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.

Balnikhov, Divin Propos, and Rockemperor are D’Amato’s three other expected runners in the John Henry Turf Championship.

Gold Phoenix won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 31 for a record third consecutive year, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Gold Phoenix was 10th in the 2022 BC Turf at Keeneland and fourth in the race at Santa Anita last year.

Fri, 09/20/2024 - 14:52

After interrupted work, Senor Buscador goes three-eighths

Dubai Racing Club
Senor Buscador is training toward a start in the Grade 1 California Crown next Saturday at Santa Anita.

Officially, Senor Buscador worked three furlongs in 36.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday in advance of a scheduled start in the Grade 1 California Crown on Sept. 28, but there was much more to his morning exercise.

The workout was part of a disrupted trip to the track for Senor Buscador, best known for winning the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February.

Fri, 09/20/2024 - 14:44

Anisette to skip a final prep for Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf

Benoit photo
Anisette had been considered for the 1 1/4-mile Rodeo Drive Oct. 5 at Santa Anita.

Anisette, a five-time stakes winner who was a close third in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 7, will have her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

Trainer Leonard Powell said on Friday that Anisette will miss the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 5 by design.

“I think we’ll freshen for the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “She has run well fresh.”

Fri, 09/20/2024 - 14:10

Unbeaten juvenile Showcase done for the year

Showcase wins Saratoga Special Aug 10-2024
Barbara D. Livingston
Undefeated Saratoga Special winner Showcase is injured and out for the year but will not need surgery, according to Todd Pletcher.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Showcase, unbeaten in two starts, including a victory in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, will miss the major races in the 2-year-old division for the fall, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Pletcher said Showcase has “a non-surgical issue” that has put him out of training. Pletcher said Showcase, a son of Uncle Mo, could be back in training by the end of the year.