OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gun Song, who came within a neck of upsetting Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes on Sept. 21 at Parx Racing, is pointing to the Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose on Oct. 26 at Aqueduct, trainer Mark Hennig said.
On Friday at Belmont, Gun Song worked a half-mile in 49 seconds over the training track.
“Just kind of a first work back kind of thing, hopefully come back next week and do a little more, but she’s pretty fit right now,” Hennig said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When it comes to where he is going to prepare his horses for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, trainer Todd Pletcher said he is staying put.
Instead of assembling all his horses at Keeneland, which he did a year ago ahead of a trip to Southern California, Pletcher will have his potential runners for this year’s Breeders’ Cup event based at three different venues until they ship out later this month. This year’s Breeders’ Cup will be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Well, this is a new one.
Friday’s nine-race Aqueduct card was canceled due to air quality issues after Resorts World, which operates the casino adjacent to Aqueduct, retreated the facility’s entire roof. The smell from the chemicals was stifling, particularly on the upper level where racing officials - including the stewards, the teletimer operator, placing judges and Equibase personnel - are located.
Roxanne Tanner has been named director of racing for Louisiana Downs, the Bossier City, La., track announced Wednesday. She will oversee all aspects of racing operations, including mutuels, at the facility that also houses a casino.
Tanner takes over from Matt Crawford, a 30-year racing official in the Southwest who is retiring, according to a separate press release from Louisiana Downs. Crawford also served as racing secretary for Louisiana Downs. The track has launched a search for a new racing secretary, a position Tanner hopes will be filled by the first of the year.
Jockey Antonio Fresu has been suspended on Saturday and Sunday and fined $500 for riding infractions at the 2023 Del Mar summer meeting that were originally 22 days of suspension and fines of $990, but later significantly reduced by a policy change enacted by the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Unit.
As soon as this weekend, prominent California trainer Phil D’Amato may reach 1,000 career wins.
Through Wednesday, D’Amato has 998 wins in North America. He has one starter at Keeneland on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. At Santa Anita, D’Amato has four runners on Friday and three entered on Saturday. Entries for Sunday were taken on Thursday. D’Amato said he expects to have several starters on Sunday.
D’Amato, 48, has been one of the leading trainers in recent years at Del Mar and Santa Anita.
Nysos, the undefeated colt who won two stakes by a combined 26 3/4 lengths last fall and winter before he was sidelined during the buildup to the Triple Crown, worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita on Thursday.
The workout was the first for Nysos since late February. Nysos was the morning-line favorite for the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on March 3, but was withdrawn the day before the race. The San Felipe is a key prep race for the Santa Anita Derby.
The Arizona Department of Racing plans to meet in two weeks to determine whether Turf Paradise has complied with a laundry list of safety issues that have been identified by state regulators and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose D’Angelo is hoping talent will trump experience when he takes his two recent graded stakes-winning but relatively lightly raced 3-year-olds – Bentornato and Howard Wolowitz – to Del Mar for the 2024 Breeders’ Cup.
Bentornato will enter the Sprint on Nov. 2 with just eight starts on his résumé, five of them victories, including a game neck decision over Sunny Breeze last month at Parx Racing in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While trainer Danny Gargan contemplates whether or not to run Grade 1 Frizette runner-up Snowyte in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, he does seem set on where he will next run his impressive debut-winning New York-bred 2-year-old Man in Finance.
Man in Finance, who won his debut Sept. 21 by 7 3/4 lengths, earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, will make his next start in the $200,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes for New York-breds on Oct. 27.
