OLDSMAR, Fla. – It was a day of nice, round numbers for trainer Robert Smith and jockey Jose Ferrer on Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs, where the pair teamed up to win the fifth race with Rocket Bottle, who scored by one length in a $16,000 maiden-claiming sprint. The victory came on Smith’s 50th birthday and marked the 4,000th victory for Ferrer.
Ferrer scored two consecutive victories Sunday, having also taken the fourth race, a $20,000 claiming route, aboard Dance N Denae for trainer Dennis Ward.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The highlight of Wednesday’s 10-race card at Tampa Bay Downs is the ninth race, a first-level, optional $75,000 claimer going one mile on turf and offering a purse of $23,000. The race attracted a full field of 10 3-year-old fillies, plus three also-eligibles and one runner entered for the main track only.
Enjoy Yourself, a British-bred Sir Percy filly trained by John Terranova, likely will be favored in her 2016 debut after finishing third to Ava’s Kitten in the $100,000 Chelsey Flower Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 31. She’ll be ridden by Antonio Gallardo.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tepin looked every bit like the champion she is last Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, scooting away from the field to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths under Julien Leparoux. It was the first start for the 5-year-old Bernstein mare since she beat males in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Oct. 31 to cap a 5-for-7 season in which she won four graded stakes and the Eclipse Award as North America’s top female turf runner.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In a short span of time, trainer Rusty Arnold got a welcomed reminder that the long and stressful days of thankless work are all worthwhile.
Arnold was at Gulfstream Park on Saturday to send out a 3-year-old colt named Star Hill to a dazzling triumph in a seven-furlong maiden race. And then, less than 90 minutes later, Arnold watched via simulcast as Weep No More represented his stable in winning the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
“Those days always help,” said Arnold, who saddled his first winner more than 40 years ago in July 1975.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will request approval from the California Horse Racing Board on Feb. 25 to conduct a stakes race for Arabians on April 2.
A $100,000 race for older horses on dirt is scheduled as part of a weekend of events in the Los Angeles area for the Arabian racing community. The Darley Awards ceremony, the Arabian equivalent of the Eclipse Awards, is scheduled for April 1 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The Dolby is the site of the Academy Awards.
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.
