DEL MAR, Calif. - Glory, now 2 for 2 on turf following an allowance win Saturday, will be considered for the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes on Nov. 29, according to Dan Ward, the local assistant to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
Glory, by Tapit, won just one of her first six starts, all on dirt and synthetic, but has scored two daylight victories since moving to turf.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The honors continue to roll in for trainer Bob Baffert, who on Saturday night will be recognized by his alma mater, the University of Arizona, at halftime of its home football game against highly ranked Utah.
“It’s really cool,” said Baffert, who won the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup Classic this year with American Pharoah. “My whole family is going.”
Baffert has long ties to the school and the area. He grew up 70 miles from Tucson in Nogales, Ariz., and still has family in the Tucson area, including his brother, Bill.
Lane Luzzi has wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a jockey for many years. On Wednesday, he realized that dream by riding Blimey to a third-place finish in the fifth race at Laurel Park.
As the son of longtime New York rider Mike Luzzi, a winner of more than 3,400 races, Luzzi grew up a half-mile from Belmont Park. In June, he graduated from Floral Park Memorial High School, directly across Plainfield Ave. from the track. During his senior year, he would exercise “six or seven horses” in the morning and then start classes at 10:15 a.m.
Saratoga Special winner Exaggerator and Champagne runner-up Sunny Ridge were among 13 horses pre-entered Tuesday in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot. The 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds is Nov. 21. Final entries will be taken Nov. 16.
The Jackpot will be limited to 10 starters on the six-furlong track at Delta. Forevamo, who won his maiden in the local prep, the $200,000 Jean Lafitte, has first preference into the Jackpot.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Wednesday is Nov. 11, and the high temperature is forecast to be about 60 degrees, which is way above normal in Chicago. This has been one of the warmest autumns on record, and that’s good news for the Hawthorne turf course, which in this unusually temperate season will last longer into this fall-winter Hawthorne meet than typically would be expected.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Santiago Gonzalez swept both of the stakes over the weekend and led all riders with eight victories through two weeks of racing at this fall meet.
Gonzalez won the Kathryn Crosby, a two-turn grass race, on Saturday with Full Ransom, then captured the Betty Grable, a dirt sprint, on Sunday with My Monet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar’s stewards voted not to fine or suspend Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux for his ride in Saturday’s fourth race aboard the favored What a View, who was caught right on the wire by Professor Berns. To some observers, Desormeaux appeared to stop riding aggressively before the finish and then rose in the saddle as the horses got to the finish.
In a majority decision, Del Mar stewards Kim Sawyer and Tom Ward voted for no penalty, while steward Scott Chaney voted to penalize Desormeaux. They came to their decisions after meeting with Desormeaux on Sunday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Strut the Course encountered trouble in the stretch of the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes on the Woodbine turf on Oct. 18 and will return to Polytrack to face males in the $125,000 Sir Barton Stakes, trainer Barbara Minshall said. The Sir Barton is for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack on Nov. 25.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Missing Sefa will be scratched from the 10th race Wednesday, but the 13-year-old mare isn’t quite finished racing, said owner and trainer Jamie Grubbs.
“The race just came up too tough for her,” said Grubbs. “We’ll probably enter back for another race at the Churchill meet. Either way, I do intend to run her at Turfway this winter.”
During a remarkable 111-race career that began May 12, 2004, at Churchill, Missing Sefa has racked up 28 wins, 20 seconds, and 19 thirds. Grubbs claimed her in December 2004.
“She’s become a part of the family,” she said.
