OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though most juveniles who raced on this circuit this year went south to prepare for their 3-year-old season, there are at least two intriguing prospects who stayed behind.
Flexibility, second to Mohaymen in both the Nashua and Remsen during Aqueduct’s fall meet, and Matt King Coal, a sharp maiden winner at Belmont, head the list of soon-to-be 3-year-olds who may use the New York road to see if they are worthy Triple Crown candidates.
CYPRESS, Calif. – When Pacific Heat began her career with a convincing win in a maiden race on dirt here in September, trainer Peter Eurton considered her breeding and thought he had a prospect for graded stakes on turf in 2016.
“I thought she’d have to do her thing on grass,” he said last weekend.
Pacific Heat seems very comfortable racing on dirt tracks. After two wins in as many starts, Pacific Heat is set to run in Saturday’s $300,000 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos, a Grade 1 at 1 1/16 miles on dirt for 2-year-old fillies.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After braving the harshest of harsh winters here in 2015, El Kabeir will be heading west for winter 2016 – at least, for part of it.
El Kabeir, who won the Grade 3 Jerome and Grade 3 Gotham over Aqueduct’s inner track last winter, was scheduled to ship Wednesday to Southern California, where he will be pointed to the Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. Depending how he fares, his stay in California could be extended to include other graded opportunities.
Golden Gate Fields will offer the same 12 stakes it has for the past two years for its 96-day winter-spring meet, which opens Dec. 26. The stakes schedule is worth just more than $1 million.
Last year, Golden Gate shifted a pair of $100,000 turf races for California-breds, the Campanile and the Silky Sullivan, to the same weekend as the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile to create a weekend turf festival.
How thick was the fog Friday night at Turfway? Mike Battaglia, who began calling races there more than 40 years ago, said it was “the worst I can ever recall.”
Equibase’s Steve Peery, who has called charts for 18 years, agreed.
“Usually, there are spots where you can make out who is who,” said Peery. “But this was the thickest I’ve ever seen. It was surreal.”
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Efren Loza Jr. had the promising 2-year-old colt Ishaq sitting on ready for his career debut Nov. 28 at Tampa Bay Downs, and the son of Harlan’s Holiday won the way a 9-10 favorite should, leading most of the way under Pedro Cotto Jr. to score by 10 1/4 lengths under only brief, mild urging.
Albin Jimenez, the perennial top jockey at Turfway, got away to a fast start at the holiday meet that began Thursday night, racking up nine wins from 24 mounts, including the Holiday Inaugural on Spanish Pipedream.
Jimenez considered heading to Tampa Bay Downs for the winter, “but the way business is going here, I think we’ve changed that plan,” said agent Jimmy McNerney.
Wesley Ward seems to be everywhere at once. The well-traveled trainer was headed overseas this week to run one of his stable stars, Green Mask, in the Hong Kong Sprint, temporarily leaving behind not only his big stable in south Florida but also some 30 horses at Keeneland.
Let’s Meet in Rio, a 2-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert, made a successful transition to racing around two turns with a win in a one-mile maiden race at Los Alamitos on Saturday.
Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Let’s Meet in Rio caught stretch leader Laoban in the final sixteenth to win by 1 1/2 lengths over that rival. Let’s Meet in Rio was fifth and sixth in his first two starts, which came in sprints.
“We thought he wanted to go long,” Baffert said. “It’s a good move forward.”
Jockey Flavien Prat, who has not ridden since September after suffering a back injury in a spill at Los Alamitos, resumed working horses at Santa Anita over the weekend and could ride on the Dec. 26 opening day of that track’s winter-spring meeting.
Prat said he worked horses on Saturday and Sunday and plans to intensify his workload in coming weeks.
“I breezed one this morning,” Prat said on Sunday. “I don’t want to go too fast. I feel good. I can ride.”
