ARCADIA, Calif. – Calculator, a Grade 3 stakes winner in 2015, ended a 13-month layoff due to injury with a come-from-behind win in an optional claimer at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday.
The win was impressive considering what Calculator left behind on the racetrack, trainer Peter Miller said on Sunday.
“He threw a shoe and grabbed a quarter,” Miller said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Follow Me Crev might start in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 12 after extending his winning streak to four races in an optional claimer on Sunday.
Follow Me Crev, trained by Vladimir Cerin for David and Holly Wilson, closed from last of six to win the race at 1 1/16 miles by 2 1/2 lengths over Prospect Park, the 4-5 favorite. Ridden by Flavien Prat, Follow Me Crev ($7.60) was timed in 1:36.81.
“It looks like he is getting better,” Cerin said. “If we can keep him in good shape, I want to be ambitious.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bolo’s win in the $200,000 Arcadia Mile on turf at Santa Anita on Saturday kept trainer Carla Gaines occupied in the hours after the race.
Asked on Sunday how many times she had watched the replay, Gaines said, “about 500.”
There was much for her to like while reviewing the race. In his first start since July, Bolo stalked pacesetter Obviously and rallied in the final strides to win by a neck at 7-1. The Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes was the first graded stakes win for Bolo, who finished 12th behind American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby last May.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Frank Conversation may be headed to Dubai after his win in Saturday’s $200,800 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields.
Sunday, trainer Doug O’Neill said Frank Conversation will be considered for the $2 million United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 26. The UAE Derby is on the undercard of the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
“They’ve invited us and it is $2 million,” O’Neill said.
The $500,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on April 2 is another possible race for Frank Conversation, O’Neill said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Since her debut win at 2 at Del Mar in 2014, Tara’s Tango has been held in the highest regard by Stonestreet Stable and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. It took much longer than expected for her to win her first graded stakes.
Saturday, Tara’s Tango won the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, closing from fifth of eight to win by a half-length as the 8-5 favorite. The win left Hollendorfer planning a start in the $500,000 Santa Margarita Invitational for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on March 19.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Songbird, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, breezed a half-mile in 48.40 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday, eight days after winning her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes.
Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Songbird worked alone. Hollendorfer had planned to work Songbird on Monday, but opted to move the exercise forward by 24 hours.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Colour Me Happy won a maiden race on turf in Newmarket, England, last October, then was purchased by Kosta and Pete Hronis and sent to trainer John Sadler at Santa Anita. When Colour Me Happy makes his U.S. debut in an optional claimer at a mile in Monday’s third race, it will be his first appearance on a turf course since arriving in this country.
There were many reasons for Mike Luzzi to call it quits after the serious injuries he suffered in a freak paddock accident at Aqueduct in the fall of 2014. There was one motivating factor for him to try to get back.
Lane Luzzi, Mike’s son, wanted to be a jockey. Mike wanted to show him the ropes, and the two were hopeful of one day riding together.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Dwight Pruett has owned horses for just three years but already has landed what most in the industry are chasing – a 3-year-old on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
Discreetness, who races for Pruett’s Xpress Thoroughbreds, will be out to win his third straight stakes race Monday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest at Oaklawn Park. He won the $250,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park in December, then took down Oaklawn’s first 3-year-old prep, the $150,000 Smarty Jones in January, to pick up 10 eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Services for Shawn Thomas, the 48-year-old son of trainer Gary Thomas, are scheduled for Wednesday at the chapel on the backstretch of Oaklawn. The memorial will begin at noon Central.
Thomas died in a car accident in Macon, Ga., on Feb. 7. Friends said he was traveling to Ocala, Fla.
Thomas, who was born in Ruidoso, N.M., was a resident of Louisville, Ky. He worked as both an assistant trainer and exercise rider for his father, a longtime horseman based in Kentucky and Arkansas.
Shawn Thomas will be buried in Kentucky.
