Jockey Jack Gilligan is making a name for himself in racing – with a little help from the iconic American television show from the 1960s.
“People say, ‘Where’s Skipper?’ and, ‘How did you get off the island?’ ” said Gilligan, referring to the TV show “Gilligan’s Island.” “It’s all in fun. It’s actually been good because it’s easy for people to remember my name.”
CYPRESS, Calif. – If you thought you saw jockey Victor Espinoza somewhere, you were probably right. For the past two years, he’s been more omnipresent than Marlin Man, from the winner’s circle at Triple Crown races to under the mirror ball on “Dancing With the Stars” to a recent movie promo shoot with Kevin Hart.
If you want someone to “Ride Along,” who better than Espinoza?
On Thursday, races were rained off the turf for the eighth straight racing day, with more rain falling early in the card and another round of showers forecast to hit the area Friday night into Saturday. If the forecast holds, there’s a good chance that races Saturday, including the featured eighth, will once again be rained onto the main track.
Entering eight days ahead of a race, as Fair Grounds is doing for the Jan. 16 program, creates a strange dynamic and gives trainer Todd Pletcher plenty of time to weigh all factors with Destin, whom he said Thursday he will enter in the Lecomte.
“In this particular case, we can enter, see how we draw, breeze, see how he comes out of the breeze, and then ship,” Pletcher said. “Our plan right now is to run.”
Tom Amoss said he would wait until after Harlan Punch worked Thursday morning to decide whether to run him or another 3-year-old he trains, Mo Tom, in the Jan. 16 Lecomte Stakes, but when rain came during Thursday training and Amoss pushed back Harlan Punch’s work to another day, there was no decision left to make: It’s Mo Tom for the Lecomte.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York-bred stakes winners Wonder Gal, Saythreehailmary’s, and Sheriffa make up half of the six-horse field entered for Sunday’s $100,000 Ladies Handicap, scheduled for a mile and 70 yards over Aqueduct’s inner track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Kiaran McLaughlin nominated Dancing House to Saturday’s $100,000 Interborough Stakes, he thought it would be the ideal spot to bring a filly without any allowance conditions back off a layoff. Little did he know that the race would come up like a graded stakes, with the likes of La Verdad, Room for Me, and Princess Violet.
Thus, McLaughlin said Thursday he might look elsewhere for Dancing House to make her first start since April, when she won an allowance race at Keeneland. She was sidelined thereafter due to an ankle chip that needed to be removed.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In 2015, Zayat Stables and trainer John Terranova won two of the three stakes for 3-year-olds run over Aqueduct’s inner track with El Kabeir. The Withers, a race in which El Kabeir finished second, was the one that got away.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Retirement Management Account for retired racehorses will distribute more than $500,000 to 25 charities, according to a statement released this week. The distributions will pay for a variety of needs for the charities, including basic costs such as a hay, feed, and medication, the statement indicated.
CARMA generates revenue through fundraisers and through contributions from horse owners who dedicate 0.3 percent of purses earned to the fund.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Prize Exhibit, who won her third graded stakes on turf in the $201,500 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita last Sunday, might start on a dirt track for the first time next month.
Owner Deron Pearson and trainer Jim Cassidy are considering Prize Exhibit for the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt Feb. 13. Another option is to keep the 4-year-old filly on turf for the $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile Feb. 20.
