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.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Giacomo’s win in the 2005 Kentucky Derby inspired Richard Keith to set a lofty goal. He decided that afternoon that he wanted to chase the 3-year-old dream at the highest level, and he is now doing that with his wife, Sharon, and his trainer, Rodney Richards.
Sandiva, who finished second to Penwith when trying the main track last time out in the Royal Delta, is among 32 older females nominated to the Grade 3, $150,000 The Very One, a 1 3/16-mile grass race on March 5 at Gulfstream Park.
Sandiva won the Grade 3 Marshua’s River on turf here Jan. 9. She won the Grade 3 Suwannee River on this course in February 2015. She is one of seven horses trainer Todd Pletcher has nominated to The Very One.
