ARCADIA, Calif. – Warren’s Veneda, the 2015 Grade 1 winner, worked a half-mile in a quick 46.60 seconds Saturday at Santa Anita for a scheduled start in the $200,000 La Canada Stakes for fillies and mares Jan. 16.
Warren’s Veneda was one of 251 recorded works on the main track. Morning activity was expected to be busy this weekend following disrupted training from Tuesday through Thursday because of a series of rain storms.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The road to the Dubai desert in March for Effinex began at balmy Belmont Park on Saturday.
Effinex breezed an easy three furlongs in 37.94 seconds shortly after 8 a.m., his first workout since winning the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs in November. It is also his first breeze on the road to the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 26.
Mo Tom, who won the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs last year before finishing third there in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, is the most accomplished of the 15 3-year-olds entered for the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds.
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.
