Mon, 02/08/2016 - 15:36

X Y Jet looks to burnish credentials for Dubai invite

Barbara D. Livingston
X Y Jet, shown winning the Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes last month, will run in the Gulfstream Park Sprint on Feb. 27.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After winning his last two starts by a combined 13 1/2 lengths, including the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, X Y Jet is looking for new worlds to conquer. In fact, his connections would love to send him halfway across the world for his next major test, the Dubai Golden Shaheen on March 26 on the Dubai World Cup card.

Carlos Morales, stable manager for Ivan Rodriguez Gelfenstein’s Gelfenstein Farm, said they nominated X Y Jet to the Golden Shaheen but have yet to receive an invitation to the race.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 15:26

Lady Sabelia, Hot City Girl top Fritchie field

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Lady Sabelia wins the Willa On the Move at Laurel by 1 3/4 lengths.

The Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park will match last year’s winner, the 6-year-old Lady Sabelia, against the rapidly improving 4-year-old Hot City Girl. A field of seven was entered Monday for the $300,000 Fritchie, a seven-furlong race for fillies and mares.

Saturday is the first day of Laurel’s winter carnival, which concludes on Presidents Day Monday with the Grade 3, $250,000 General George, a seven-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up. There are a pair of $75,000 supporting stakes on each program.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 15:26

Airoforce to make 3-year-old debut in Risen Star Stakes

Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography
Airoforce wins the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in November at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Mark Casse on Sunday confirmed that Airoforce, an Eclipse Award finalist for champion 2-year-old male of 2015, will ship from south Florida to New Orleans next week to make his 3-year-old debut Feb. 20 in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 15:10

Southwest Stakes contender Z Royal has Lukas feeling young

Barbara D. Livingston
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas was taken to a hospital outside Philadelphia on Saturday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has put a health scare far behind him and is back in a familiar spot at this Oaklawn Park meet – with a promising 3-year-old prospect in Z Royal.

Z Royal breezed Monday for an intended start in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes. Lukas said Gary Stevens will ride the Zayat Stables-owned horse in the race next Monday.

Lukas, 80, has fully recovered from a heart scare last September. He had been briefly hospitalized in Philadelphia, where was set to run horses in stakes at Parx Racing on a Saturday.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 13:37

Tampa Bay: Prado visits to ride War Order

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado is winless with 18 mounts at the Gulfstream Park meet but will look to score with his first mount of the Tampa Bay Downs meet on Wednesday.

Prado will ride War Order, a War Front colt owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani and trained by Graham Motion, in the eighth race, a $23,000 maiden special weight race going one mile and 40 yards. The race drew a field of nine 3-year-olds, and War Order is the 2-1 morning-line favorite.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 13:36

Tampa Bay: Fast Flying Rumor eyes Pelican

John Duca/SV Photography
Fast Flying Rumor wins the Turf Dash Stakes on Jan. 9 at Tampa Bay.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Fast Flying Rumor is targeting the $100,000 Pelican Stakes on Feb. 20 at Tampa Bay Downs after dominating an optional $50,000 claimer on the main track here last Friday for his third consecutive win. The Pelican is a six-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and up on the main track.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 13:36

Clement could get ambitious with stakes winner Governor Malibu

Joe Labozzetta/NYRA
Governor Malibu, with Manny Franco aboard, wins the Gander Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths Saturday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After defeating fellow New York-breds in Saturday’s Gander Stakes at Aqueduct, the 3-year-old Governor Malibu will step into open company for his next start, trainer Christophe Clement said Monday.

Where and when that will occur will be determined at a later date.

“I really don’t know yet,” Clement said Monday from Payson Park in Florida, where Governor Malibu was due to ship Wednesday. “I know all the races, ambitious to less ambitious. We’ll shop around.”

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 13:22

Marino's Wild Cat eyes repeat in Lost in the Fog

Shane Micheli/Vassar Photography
Marino's Wild Cat wins the 2015 Lost in the Fog at Golden Gate Fields.

Defending race winner Marino’s Wild Cat, who hasn’t started since a third-place finish last April that snapped a three-race win streak, is expected to make his return in next Monday’s $50,000 Lost in the Fog at six furlongs at Golden Gate Fields. He has had 13 works since the end of last October, winding up with a six-furlong move in 1:10.80 on Feb. 3.

“He should be ready,” trainer Cliff DeLima said of his multiple stakes winner.

Trainer Blaine Wright plans to enter Holdthismiss, just claimed for $62,500 on Jan. 1, and Mah Gellin.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 13:16

Four rich stakes highlight Festival Preview Day

Barbara D. Livingston
Boalt Hall is one of six nominees for the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes for Todd Pletcher.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – The second-biggest day of the Tampa Bay Downs meet comes Saturday, when Festival Preview Day offers four stakes worth $650,000 in total, including a trio of Grade 3 stakes. The event serves as a prelude to Festival Day on March 12, when four stakes worth $850,000 in total will be run.

The Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes is for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and is a prep for the biggest race of the meet, the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, which offers qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby to its top four finishers.

Mon, 02/08/2016 - 13:13

Code Warrior learning from California Oaks defeat

Shane Micheli/Vassar Photography
Code Warrior wins the 2015 Golden Gate Debutante.

Trainer Manny Badilla was philosophical about Code Warrior’s fourth-place finish in her route debut in last Saturday’s California Oaks. The favored 3-year-old filly lost for the first time at Golden Gate Fields.

“I knew when we drew the rail it was trouble in River City,” he said. “It was very educational for her to get pinned down on the rail.”

Although she seemed capable of taking the lead based on her sprint fractions, jockey Anne Sanguinetti kept her off the pace.