OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Royal Posse was claimed for $20,000 last May with the idea of being able to run in some two-turn races at Saratoga. That he has become a two-time stakes winner has been a pleasant surprise to his connections.
Royal Posse will seek another stakes victory in Saturday’s $125,000 Jazil Stakes at Aqueduct. Royal Posse was one of seven horses entered Wednesday for the Jazil, named for the 2006 Belmont Stakes winner.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $250,000 Sunshine Millions Classic, to be run Saturday, got an unexpected shot in the arm at entry time Wednesday when trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. decided to wheel Mr. Jordan back on one week’s rest. Mr. Jordan was virtually eliminated at the start of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Hal’s Hope after colliding with Matrooh while leaving the gate. Mr. Jordan had made only one previous start since running seventh last August in the Haskell at Monmouth, finishing third in the Harlan’s Holiday here Dec. 12.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red is the only millionaire entered on Saturday’s Sunshine Millions program. But Wildcat Red, the runner-up in the 2014 Florida Derby, will not be competing in the afternoon’s main event, the 1 1/8-mile Sunshine Millions Classic. Instead, trainer Jose Garoffalo has opted to bring him back off his latest layoff in a more suitable spot, the six-furlong Sunshine Millions Sprint.
For a slow learner, Henry the King is off to a fast start.
Purchased for $30,000 by trainer Greg Sacco at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale, Henry the King was 2 for 2 last year, winning a Parx maiden race and a Laurel Park optional-claiming race. He will take another step up in class Saturday when he begins his 3-year-old season in the $75,000 Frank Whiteley Jr. on Saturday at Laurel Park.
“He’s a May foal, and he’s been slow to develop, physically and mentally,” Sacco said.
Cathal Lynch is in the process of relocating his stable and family from Pennsylvania to Maryland. On Saturday, he will introduce himself to his new neighbors by sending out the solid favorite, Never Gone South, in the $75,000 Frank Whiteley Jr., a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds at Laurel Park.
Lynch, a 40-year-old native of Derry in Northern Ireland, has been based at Parx Racing the past dozen years but is now stabled at Laurel Park. He recently sold his home near Parx.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2015 season caught up with Yahilwa in the stretch of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland last October.
Less than four weeks after a hard-fought third-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, Yahilwa faded to finish sixth of 14 in the BC Distaff. The season was over.
When Yahilwa returns to racing in Saturday’s $200,000 La Canada Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita, trainer Jim Cassidy expects a brighter performance.
“She puts so much effort in her races,” Cassidy said. “She needs a little more time between races.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder, the two-time champion, arrived at trainer Richard Mandella’s stable at Santa Anita on Sunday following a two-month break in Kentucky. But it will be a short stay.
Mandella said on Wednesday that Beholder will spend the next two weeks at Julie Adair-Stack’s layup farm in Chino Hills, Calif., where she will begin light training.
“I’ll let her get the edge off there,” Mandella said.
Beholder will return to Mandella’s stable later this month and begin training for an expected comeback in the spring.
California Chrome jogged at Los Alamitos on Wednesday, his first day of exercise since winning the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday.
“He was bouncing this morning,” trainer Art Sherman said. “He’s feeling good. I feel pretty good about him right now.”
California Chrome is scheduled to be sent to Dubai on Jan. 21 to begin preparations for the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse on March 26. He is scheduled to have a prep race there in late February or early March.
Todd Pletcher worked Destin a half-mile in company Saturday at Palm Beach Downs and said Sunday that Destin is on track to ship by van to Fair Grounds on Thursday for the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes. Destin drew post 13 for the race, his stakes debut, but should move in three slots since Indygo Breeze and Battle Tap are expected to be scratched in favor of a Jan. 18 allowance and Noble Thought was injured while working Saturday.
None of the five horses whom trainer Bret Calhoun plans to start in four stakes races Saturday at Fair Grounds will be close to favored, but that doesn’t mean they can be counted out. Calhoun has struck before with price horses in Fair Grounds stakes, as recently as last month, when Ibaka won the Buddy Diliberto Memorial at odds of more than 6-1, and as far back as 2010, when Jody Slew, a 23-1 shot, upset the Tiffany Lass Stakes.
