The sudden and surprising retirement of Russell Baze has shaken up the jockey colony in Northern California.
Top young riders who could benefit from Baze’s retirement include Juan Hernandez, second to Baze at the last Golden Gate Fields meet; Ricardo Gonzalez, who won the Oak Tree Handicap aboard Bronze Star for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer last Saturday; and 2011 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Kyle Frey.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tampa Bay Downs will hold its fourth annual Summer Festival of Racing on Thursday and Friday with a pair of eight-race cards consisting mostly of lower-level turf races.
The festival provides the track with status as a year-round meeting, enabling the track to control its simulcasting revenue. Thursday’s card marks the official conclusion of the 2015-16 meeting, and Friday’s card begins the 2016-17 meeting.
There will be six turf races Thursday and seven Friday, and there will be mandatory payouts both days on the pick five and Super Hi 5 wagers.
Jockey David Flores, a winner of more than 3,500 races, will ride for the first time since last September in Thursday’s fifth race at Belmont Park.
Flores, 48, has won 156 graded stakes, including three Breeders' Cup races. A top rider in California for many years, Flores has won riding titles at Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Fairplex. His mounts have purse earnings in excess of $151 million.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gary Stevens will make a rare appearance here Friday. The Hall of Famer rider is named aboard Mac Daddy Mac for trainer Kathy Ritvo in the featured eighth race, a six-furlong allowance/optional claimer for Florida-breds.
Mac Daddy Mac has not started since finishing second with Stevens aboard in the Grade 3 Bob Hope last November at Del Mar.
Stevens won the Sunshine Millions Classic here for Ritvo aboard Mucho Macho Man in 2014. His most notable local victory came in the 1999 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile aboard Anees for trainer Alex Hassinger Jr.
Recruiting Ready, who won his career debut in smashing fashion May 28 at Pimlico, is one of six 2-year-olds expected for the Grade 3, $100,000 Bashford Manor Stakes on closing night of the spring/summer meet Saturday.
Recruiting Ready, from the first crop of Algorithms, rolled to a 10 1/4-length victory in a maiden special weight at Pimlico. He got his 4 1/2 furlongs in 51.78 seconds, just 0.28 seconds off the track mark of 51.50 established by Countess Diana on June 6, 1997. Countess Diana would go on to be a multiple Grade 1 winner and the champion 2-year-old filly of 1997.
Jockey Channing Hill won his 1,000th career race last Friday at Churchill Downs, piloting the 5-year-old mare Shut the Gate to win a claiming race for trainer Chris Hartman.
Through Sunday, Hill had won 1,001 races from 9,308 starts, with 1,046 seconds and 1,160 thirds, for $40.5 million in mount earnings. He has won 16 graded stakes since 2003, with the most recent coming aboard Pleuven in the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes on June 18 at Churchill Downs. His lone Grade 1 victory came aboard First Defence in the 2008 Forego Stakes at Saratoga.
Heading into her first major engagement of the summer in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks, Catch a Glimpse shows no ill effects from what has already been a very successful year.
The 2015 Canadian Horse of the Year worked five furlongs in 59 seconds flat at Keeneland last Saturday, the fastest of 34 works at the distance. It was the second consecutive bullet work for the filly, who worked a half in 48 seconds, the fastest of 54 works, the prior week.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association has released the invitation lists for the $1.25 million Belmont Derby and $1 million Oaks.
Fourteen horses have been invited to participate in each of the Grade 1, 1 1/4-mile turf races scheduled for July 9 at Belmont Park. According to NYRA officials, all of the horses invited to the Derby have paid the $7,500 entry fee that is due by Wednesday. Twelve of the Oaks invitees are paid up, while the decisions of the other two are pending.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The 157th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate is Sunday, and as many as 15 could make a run at the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown.
The probable field is led by Plate Trial winner Amis Gizmo, who will come into the Queen’s Plate with a record of five wins from six starts for trainer Josie Carroll and owner/breeder Ivan Dalos. Amis Gizmo breezed five furlongs in one minute flat under jockey Luis Contreras in his final work for the Queen’s Plate last Friday.
