Thu, 02/25/2016 - 15:45

Pangburn will come back quickly for Heavenly Prize Invitational

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Three weeks after winning the Maryland Racing Media Stakes, Pangburn will run in the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational.

Pangburn, the winner of the Maryland Racing Media Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 13, is expected to wheel back in three weeks and run in the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational for fillies and mares on the March 5 card at Aqueduct.

“She came out of the Laurel race well, and I think we’ll do that,” trainer Tony Dutrow said Thursday from Oaklawn.

The Heavenly Prize, formerly known as the Cat Cay, is run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns. Pangburn won the Maryland Racing Media and was beaten just a nose in last year’s Iowa Oaks under the same conditions.

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 15:40

Conquest Big E heading north for Gotham Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Conquest Big E will ship from Florida for the Grade 3 Gotham on March 5.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse said Conquest Big E can’t stand the heat, so he plans to get him out of south Florida.

Casse said Thursday that Conquest Big E likely will make his next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 5. The horse was scheduled to breeze Friday morning at Palm Meadows in south Florida, and provided all goes well, he will ship here Tuesday.

“I got to keep him out of the heat,” Casse said. “That limits my options.”

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 12:46

Plenty of options for Street Fancy

Benoit & Associates
Street Fancy wound up with trainer Phil D'Amato after bidding at the Barretts Select sale failed to meet her reserve price of $419,000.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Street Fancy, who won the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos in December, is being considered for races at Fair Grounds, Oaklawn Park, and Santa Anita, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

The $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on March 5 is the local option, but D’Amato is not keen on possibly facing Songbird, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2015.

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 10:06

Jenny Wiley possible target for Paulina's Love

Shigeki Kikkawa
Paulina's Love wins the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes last Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The $350,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland may be the next start for Paulina’s Love, winner of the $202,070 Buena Vista Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday.

Trainer Richard Baltas said Wednesday afternoon that he has yet to finalize a next race for Paulina’s Love, who won her first stakes in the Grade 2 Buena Vista at a mile on turf for fillies and mares. The Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, to be run April 16, also is run at a mile on turf for fillies and mares.

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 09:56

English race-caller taking his shot

ARCADIA, Calif. – When David Fitzgerald steps into the Santa Anita announcer’s booth on Saturday for the first day of a two-day audition, he will be in the midst of his first trip to the United States.

Fitzgerald, 31, lives in England, where he has developed a growing reputation as a top young race-caller. Beginning in 2014, he was one of three announcers who split duties during the five-day Royal Ascot meeting. Last June at Ascot, Fitzgerald called the Ascot Gold Cup and the 30-runner Royal Hunt Cup, run at a straightaway mile.

Wed, 02/24/2016 - 16:07

Aqueduct: Gyarmati looks forward

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Leah Gyarmati was planning to run Busanda runner-up Scatoosh in the Busher Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct, but the filly suffered a catastrophic breakdown in a workout on Feb. 18. Scatoosh, a daughter of Scat Daddy who brought $150,000 as a yearling, had one win and four seconds from seven starts.

“She’s probably the one horse in the barn I’d never had a single soundness issue with,” Gyarmati said.

Wed, 02/24/2016 - 16:00

Fair Grounds: Candy My Boy's target unclear

Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography
Candy My Boy's next start has not been determined.

Candy My Boy could not win a $15,000 maiden claimer last October at Indiana Grand, but he ran a fairly remarkable race to finish a close fourth Saturday in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds. Breaking from the outside post in a field of 11, Candy My Boy had to be hustled hard to get to his preferred spot on the lead, which meant going a first quarter-mile in 22.95 seconds, a pace basically unheard of in Fair Grounds route races.

Wed, 02/24/2016 - 15:56

Cassatt will switch to turf for Jersey Lilly

Sam Houston will put on four stakes Saturday night, led by the $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup. The 1 1/8-mile race for older horses drew a group that includes Ride On Curlin, a past runner-up in the Preakness; and Mobile Bay, winner of last year’s Grade 2 Super Derby.

Also on the card, Cassatt, a graded stakes winner on dirt, has been entered in a turf stakes, the $50,000 Jersey Lilly at 1 1/16 miles. Trainer Larry Jones has given the mount to Florent Geroux.

Wed, 02/24/2016 - 15:56

Mo d'Amour could land a return to Oaks for Stanco

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A few months ago, somebody at a dinner asked owner Ed Stanco if the morning after Princess of Sylmar won the 2013 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs did he wake up and think, ‘My God, you won the Oaks?’ ”

“I said, ‘I got to tell you something,’ ” Stanco recalled Wednesday morning. “I wake up every morning three years later and say, ‘We won the Oaks.’ ”

Wed, 02/24/2016 - 15:50

Haveyougoneaway will go for sprint stakes sweep in Carousel

Coady Photography
Haveyougoneaway, ridden by Jareth Loveberry, rallies along the rail to win the American Beauty by a neck.

Haveyougoneaway will be going for a sweep of Oaklawn’s stakes offerings for filly and mare sprinters in the $150,000 Carousel on April 14. She captured the second leg of the series last Saturday in the $100,000 Spring Fever, one race after taking last month’s $100,000 American Beauty.

Trainer Allen Milligan said on Tuesday that he likes the spacing of the six-furlong Carousel for Haveyougoneaway, who is owned by Champion Racing Stables.

“The more time between races the better,” Milligan said. “She’s not one of those fillies you’ve got to run every month.”