HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Untapable is not the only Breeders’ Cup winner residing in trainer Steve Asmussen’s stable at Oaklawn Park.
Regally Ready has been there, done that, too, and is still going strong at the age of 9. He will be looking for his second win of the year in the sixth race here Saturday – as well as career victory No. 20.
“Is he amazing or what?” Asmussen said on a recent morning at Oaklawn.
The Saturday card at Parx Racing includes a pair of one-mile allowance races for 3-year-olds. Race 5 is for fillies, and race 8 will match males.
Todd Pletcher looks to have the favorite in both races. Alto Belle will be heavily bet in the fifth, and Donegal Moon might be the choice over the Linda Rice-trained Hard Hitter in race 8.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A half-mile workout Thursday morning at Santa Anita by Nyquist moved the undefeated 3-year-old colt one step closer to an early-season showdown against undefeated Mohaymen in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 2 at Gulfstream Park.
Nyquist worked a half-mile Thursday in 48.80 under regular exercise rider Jonny Garcia. It was the colt’s first work since winning the Grade 2, seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes in his first start of the season on Feb. 15.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolo, whose 1:33.09 mile last out was among the most impressive turf wins of the Santa Anita meet, will have a different rider if he runs March 12 in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile.
Flavien Prat rode Bolo to victory last out in the Grade 2 Arcadia, but Prat is committed to ride Bal a Bali in the Kilroe for trainer Richard Mandella.
Patrick Valenzuela took off his mounts last Saturday and Sunday at Fair Grounds and is unlikely to ride again at the meet.
Valenzuela, 53, is among the best-known jockeys in racing, having launched a star-crossed career in 1978. He has been suspended multiple times in California, rode only 14 races in 2014, but was granted a license and came to Fair Grounds to ride in November.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Union Jackson might be poised for his stakes debut following a powerful win last week at Oaklawn. He won an optional $35,000 claiming sprint by 3 3/4 lengths and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95.
“He came out of the race in good shape, and we’ll go back to the track with him, speak with [Stonestreet Stables], and try to map out a plan,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “We think there’s stakes in his future.”
It’s like clockwork. Nine days after a race, most high-quality Steve Asmussen-trained horses put in an easy half-mile workout, four furlongs in 51 seconds and change or something in that range. But there on Monday at Fair Grounds, nine days after he won the Risen Star Stakes in his first start at age 3, Gun Runner stepped outside the typical Asmussen pattern, going five furlongs in 1:02.80.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Robertino Diodoro is having another productive meet at Oaklawn, and following the close of the season next month, he will be sending some of his local runners to a meet that the Canadian trainer has not competed at since 2009 – Woodbine.
Diodoro, who has been a fixture at Northlands Park, said he has 16 stalls for the Woodbine meet, which opens April 9. He currently ranks fourth among all trainers in North America with 47 wins through Tuesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Robert Sica has been hired as vice president of security for the New York Racing Association, returning to a place where he worked during the summers of his youth.
Sica worked as a hotwalker and groom for several trainers at Belmont Park, which is near the village of Floral Park, where he grew up.
