NEW ORLEANS – After straining to get his business going on the Southern California circuit, jockey James Graham decided last week that enough was enough.
“I love California,’’ Graham said by telephone from there Tuesday. “I guess I went out of fashion in California.’’
Last summer, Graham had moved his tack there from the Midwest in hopes of putting down roots for his family and staying year-round. But unfortunately for Graham, the mounts – and victories – became far too few.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Rainbow 6 jackpot was hit here Thursday, resulting in a $262,634 payoff to one winner, who spent $1,024 on a ticket that included the 38-1 Villa Savoye in the finale. The winning ticket was purchased through United Tote in Portland, Ore.
Villa Savoye is a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of the Grade 1 winner Tout Charmant. She is trained by Tom Albertrani for Godolphin Racing.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sweet Victory and Conquest Bebop, each a winner of her only start, likely will vie for favoritism in Sunday’s eighth race, an entry-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for 3-year-old fillies.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Chad Brown was disappointed that he did not win the Eclipse Award as leading trainer in 2014 and knows that the honor likely will go to someone else again when the 2015 winners are announced at Gulfstream Park next Saturday, Jan. 16. But Brown doesn’t need a trophy on his mantelpiece to rightfully take pride in what he and his barn have accomplished over the last two years.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After working Songbird at Santa Anita on Friday, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith said we haven’t yet seen her best.
She was virtually unchallenged as a 2-year-old in 2015, winning her four starts – all with Smith aboard – and ending with an easy win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland on Oct. 31. More than two months later, little has changed.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Moreno, the winner of the Charles Town Classic in West Virginia last April, is nearing a comeback.
Trainer Eric Guillot said he hopes to run the 6-year-old Moreno in the $500,000 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Santa Anita on Feb. 6. Owned by Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine Racing, Moreno has won 4 of 29 starts and earned $2,992,190.
Moreno has not raced since finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga last August, a race he won in 2014.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Masochistic, the winner of the Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita last June, is a month away from returning to trainer Ron Ellis’s stable at Santa Anita following a 90-day rest because of injury.
Masochistic finished last of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31 and was later found to have a fracture in a hind leg. Ellis said on Friday that the injury did not require surgery, just rest.
“He was never lame on it, but he could feel it when he pushed off on it,” Ellis said.
Trainer Gary Capuano plans to give his Maryland-bred stakes runners Noteworthy Peach and Lexington Street the winter off and point to spring campaigns.
The 4-year-old Noteworthy Peach scored a six-length win Dec. 26 in the one-mile Jennings Handicap at Laurel Park. Last spring, Noteworthy Peach finished second against open company in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.
Lexington Street finished second by 1 1/2 lengths to Look Who’s Talking in the seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship on Dec. 26.
“They both came back good,” Capuano said.
The next two stakes at Turfway are both $50,000 races at 6 1/2 furlongs on the Polytrack: the Forego on Jan. 16 and the WEBN on Jan. 30.
With entries to be taken Sunday for the Forego, stakes coordinator Randy Wehrman said he is expecting a sizable field of older horses, including Big Blue Spirit, Doubledown Again, Impassable Canyon, Mesoma, and Plenty Elusive.
◗ As Mike Battaglia continues to phase himself out as the longtime race-caller at Turfway Park, Jimmy McNerney now will be calling races twice a week for the balance of the winter-spring meet.
Look Who’s Talking, the winner of the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship on Dec. 26, is going to be given a breather before she begins her 3-year-old season, according to trainer Robin Graham.
The Juvenile Filly Championship was the sixth start and the first stakes win for Look Who’s Talking, who won her career debut at Laurel Park in August.
“It looks like we’re going to give her a couple of weeks off and then bring her back and look to the turf in the spring,” Graham said. “She’s got a long 3-year-old season ahead of her, and it’s a good time to give her a break.”
