OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Sierra Leone on Saturday continued his preparations for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic to be run Nov. 2 at Del Mar by working a half-mile in 48.86 seconds over the Belmont Park training track, his first work at this facility in 11 months.
Working just after the 9:30 a.m. renovation break, Sierra Leone went in splits of 13.25 seconds, 24.06, got his last quarter in 23.80 seconds, and continued out five furlongs in 1:01.89 and six in 1:14.25.
Purses at the nine-week Golden State Racing meeting that begins on Oct. 19 at the Alameda county fair in Pleasanton will be higher than the current fair meeting in Fresno or at Golden Gate Fields earlier this year, but lower than what Golden Gate Fields offered last fall.
The condition book, detailing the proposed races for the first eight racing days of the 26-day season, was recently released.
First Peace, winner of the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, will not start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2, and is under consideration for the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Dec. 8.
Trainer Mark Glatt said on Friday that First Peace has been nominated for the $3.34 million Hong Kong Sprint at six furlongs and is awaiting news whether the 4-year-old has been invited.
“That will be a consideration if he happens to be invited,” Glatt said.
There was no racing at Santa Anita on Wednesday, but there was still plenty of action for Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza.
Through the morning, Espinoza conducted his own workout - a three-mile run, a session in the gym, and a final piece of exercise on a mechanical horse.
At 52, and 32 years after his first win, Espinoza remains a fixture in Southern California, evidenced by his two wins last Friday and Sunday on the opening weekend of the Santa Anita autumn meeting.
The 3-year-old stakes winners Hope Road and Iscreamuscream are entered in important stakes against older fillies and mares at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Hope Road, winner of the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile by five lengths at Del Mar on Aug. 31, is entered in a tough running of the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs. The race is led by Sweet Azteca, who has won three consecutive graded stakes since March in Southern California and is the leading older sprinter on the West Coast.
Rob MacLennan has been promoted to the position of racing secretary at the New York Racing Association, the company announced Wednesday.
McLennan, who has been with NYRA since 2021 and most recently served as one of two assistant racing secretaries, joins Keith Doleshel as one of two racing secretaries at NYRA. Doleshel also holds the title of senior director of racing. Both will oversee the writing of condition books and handle other duties at Aqueduct, Saratoga, and, ultimately Belmont Park when that track re-opens in 2026.
Paul Turney, the longtime Daily Racing Form correspondent and chart caller for Assiniboia Downs and then Fort Erie, died in hospital early Tuesday morning at age 77 with his wife, Michelle Gillies, at his side.
Turney, who also worked at Woodbine as an Equibase chart caller and was a contributor to Thorough-Graph, had been stricken by an extensive brain bleed at his Stevensville, Ontario, home the previous day.
Turney owned horses at various times and also had worked as a jockey agent.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockeys Ricardo Santana Jr., Joel Rosario, Katie Davis, and Ruben Silvera are each serving one-day suspensions issued by NYRA steward Victor Escobar on behalf of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
The suspensions were all due to violations of the crop rule, which limits jockeys to six strikes during the running of a race. Each of the riders sanctioned used the crop seven times in their respective races. Santana and Rosario were each fined $500 while Davis and Silvera were both fined $250. The fines reflect the size of the purse for each race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While trainer Chad Brown’s prowess in several of the Breeders’ Cup turf races is well documented, it might be surprising to some to learn is he is the leading trainer in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint on dirt as well.
Brown has won three runnings of the Filly and Mare Sprint, including the last two with Goodnight Olive. Next month, Brown will seek a personal three-peat with Ways and Means after that filly won Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom Stakes.
