HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher found himself a new Kentucky Derby prospect on Sunday while also picking up a potential major contender for the Kentucky Oaks.
Pletcher sent out Azar to register a three-quarter-length decision over Kelly’s Touch in a 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming race on the main track Sunday. The outing was the first on dirt for Azar, a son of Scat Daddy who was a Grade 2 winner on grass at 2 last year.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Add Fellowship’s name to the shortlist of likely starters in the Florida Derby.
Trainer Stanley Gold said Monday that the steadily improving Fellowship came out of his third-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday in good order, and that if all continues to go well, he will take on Mohaymen for a third time April 2 in the $1 million Florida Derby.
“I thought he ran well,” said Gold, who trains Fellowship for owner and breeder Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm. “It was what we expected. I knew he’d run late.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer missed his favorite filly last November.
After Songbird won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland in October, she was turned out for a month at a Kentucky farm. Hollendorfer recalled last weekend being as much relieved as excited when she returned to his stable in Southern California in early December.
“Any trainer, you hate to turn them loose for a minute,” he said. “I was a little anxious when she was out for a month.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Prospect Park, the winner of the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap on turf at Del Mar last August, will miss the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 12 with a leg injury.
Trainer Clifford Sise said on Sunday that Prospect Park has “a little fracture in a hock.”
The 4-year-old Prospect Park will be sent to owners Pam and Marty Wygod’s farm in Santa Ynez, Calif. for a three-month recovery. The injury will not require surgery, Sise said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Songbird and Mor Spirit, two of the best 3-year-olds in California, worked at Santa Anita on Sunday for races in coming weeks.
Songbird, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds under jockey Mike Smith. Songbird will be a heavy favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens has defined the concept of a boutique rider at Santa Anita this winter.
Through Saturday, Stevens had won 10 races from 50 mounts. Seven of those wins were in stakes, leaving Stevens with a clear lead in that category. Flavien Prat is second with four stakes wins.
“I don’t have a lot of horses, but the ones I have are good ones,” Stevens said on Sunday morning.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mohaymen and Zulu, the one-two finishers in the Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, both came out of the race in good condition, their trainers reported on Sunday morning, and both could meet again in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on April 2, a race that is also the next scheduled start for last year’s champion 2-year-old male, Nyquist.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Moreno has been retired from racing. Again. Only this time, it’s for good.
Eric Guillot, the trainer of 2014 Whitney winner Moreno, had attempted to bring the 6-year-old gelding back this year after announcing his retirement last summer. But following four workouts at Los Alamitos, including a six-furlong move in 1:10.80 on Jan. 9, Guillot pulled the plug.
“I had him up to three-quarters, but he was too sore; I couldn’t chance him breaking down,” Guillot said Saturday at Aqueduct.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – With designs on upcoming Kentucky Derby preps for his 3-year-olds, plus major stakes engagements for two of his older runners, trainer Todd Pletcher on Saturday morning here at Palm Beach Downs worked 35 of his runners, including Derby prospects Rally Cry and Destin, the older horses Itsaknockout and General a Rod, and the comebacking 3-year-old filly Rachel’s Valentina.
