OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A field of 11 New York-bred sprinters was entered for Monday’s $100,000 Hollie Hughes Stakes, including full brothers Towering Moon and Escape to the Moon.
Towering Moon, 7, and Escape to the Moon, 6, are both geldings by Malibu Moon out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Towering Escape.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Paulassilverlining won three races, including two stakes, from her first five starts. After losing her next four races during an 11-month span, she flashed her stakes-winning form again Thursday in a $75,000, third-level allowance race at Aqueduct.
Paulassilverlining, in her first start in seven weeks, galloped to a 9 1/4-length victory Thursday. Over an inner track that yielded slow times all afternoon, Paulassilverlining ran six furlongs in 1:10.59 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 106.
The Turfway jockey colony, which typically changes little from the start of Oaklawn in January until the approach of Keeneland in April, is about to grow one rider deeper. Leandro Goncalves, based at Fair Grounds this winter, is shifting his tack to Turfway Park and has three mounts Thursday evening.
This side of the Claiming Crown, the Monday card at Gulfstream is a rather unusual one.
All 12 races are starter allowances that roughly equate to mini-stakes, with each worth $50,000 or $60,000. As the races were being made Friday, racing officials were prepared to split one or more of the overfilled races to replace any that might not have drawn a sufficient number of entries.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Nyquist, the undefeated champion 2-year-old male of 2015, is expected to have few rivals in Monday’s $200,000 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.
The Grade 2 San Vicente had five probable starters as of Friday morning, before entries were finalized. The opposition was expected to include Denman’s Call, Electrifying, Exaggerator, and Sheikh of Sheikhs.
Doug O’Neill trains Nyquist, who has not raced since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last October, and Denman’s Call, a maiden-race winner in his debut Jan. 9.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mohaymen had his first workout since his romp in the Jan. 30 Holy Bull Stakes when breezing a half-mile in 47.60 seconds Friday at the Palm Meadows training center just north of Gulfstream Park.
“It didn’t look like he went that fast,” said Kiaran McLaughlin, who trains Mohaymen for Shadwell Stable. “He’s just doing that well.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Apprentice jockey Rosie Higgins, the wife of Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, won for the first time on Thursday at Santa Anita. Riding her fourth race, Higgins won aboard Blue Law ($4.40) in the second race.
Blue Law won a $20,000 claiming race for maidens by three lengths. Higgins had Blue Law on the inside, stayed on the rail on the turn, and they pulled away to win comfortably.
“It was awesome,” she said in the winner’s circle. “I gave him his head, and he exploded.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Prospect Park was fourth in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby last April, the track’s top race for 3-year-olds. This year, trainer Clifford Sise wants to start Prospect Park in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 12, the track’s top race for older horses.
To reach that goal, Prospect Park will start in an optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles on dirt Sunday, and not in Saturday’s $200,000 Arcadia Stakes at a mile on turf. Prospect Park was entered in both races.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Ron Moquett said Oaklawn optional-claiming winner Whitmore has emerged from his Monday work in good order and is set for a start in the Southwest at Oaklawn. He said Mike Smith will have the mount Monday.
“We wanted Mike Smith because we won the race last year with him,” said Moquett.
Smith, who is based in Southern California, came in to ride Far Right in the Southwest last year.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Noble Bird, the winner of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster, worked five furlongs in company from the gate Wednesday at Oaklawn. He went after the renovation break in a bullet 1:00.80.
Oaklawn head clocker Jim Hamilton had a half-mile split of 48.40 seconds and a six-furlong gallop-out in 1:13.40.
Trainer Mark Casse said Wednesday that potential objectives for the horse are the Grade 3, $300,000 Razorback Handicap on March 19 and the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 16.
Noble Bird last raced in August.
