The Pickett Factor has put himself in the mix for Louisiana Champions Day at Fair Grounds after running one of the most impressive races of the meet at Delta Downs. The Pickett Factor, 3, won last month’s $100,000 Gold Cup over older horses by 5 3/4 lengths, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
The next step for The Pickett Factor could be the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up bred in Louisiana on Dec. 12.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Princess Violet, a Grade 1 winner earlier in the year, will return from a six-month layoff in Saturday’s $100,000 Garland of Roses Stakes, the final stakes to be run over Aqueduct’s main track in 2015.
Princess Violet, one of seven entered in the six-furlong event, is back with trainer Mike Hushion after making her last three starts with trainer Linda Rice. Hushion battled leukemia earlier in the year but has been back training on a full-time basis since Saratoga.
Oklahoma Derby winner Shotgun Kowboy is back home at Remington Park after a seventh-place finish in last week’s Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, and he will target a March return to the races, trainer C.R. Trout said. The goal is a start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Razorback Handicap on March 19 at Oaklawn.
“We’re just going to rest him for a while then get ready for the March race in Hot Springs, the Razorback,” said Trout.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Her performance in Saturday’s $100,000 Soviet Problem Stakes at a mile at Los Alamitos could define Lucky to Win’s winter campaign.
Lucky to Win won her second start, which came in a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 20. The Soviet Problem Stakes, restricted to California-bred 2-year-olds, will be Lucky to Win’s first start around two turns. The filly is by Lucky J.H. and owned by breeder John Harris.
Stormy Lucy, upset winner of the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar last Sunday, will stay in training in 2016 with the goal of running in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita next November.
It will not be long before Stormy Lucy is back in action.
Trainer Ed Moger Jr. said on Wednesday that Stormy Lucy will be pointed for the $100,000 Robert Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Dec. 27.
“We’re going to keep going with her as long as she stays healthy,” Moger said.
Om, the winner of two derbies on turf earlier this year and the third-place finisher in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar last Saturday, could make one more start this year. Trainer Dan Hendricks said he is considering running Om in the $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf on Dec. 26.
“That kind of money is nothing to sneeze at,” Hendricks said.
On Monday, Bob Baffert said he has three races at Santa Anita under consideration as a possible next start for Dortmund, who Baffert said came out of his victory Saturday in the Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar in excellent condition.
Baffert is contemplating whether to turn back Dortmund to seven furlongs for the Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes on opening day Dec. 26 or to keep him around two turns in the Grade 2, $200,000 San Pasqual on Jan. 9 at 1 1/16 miles or even to wait for the Grade 2, $500,000 San Antonio at 1 1/8 miles Feb. 6. The Native Diver was at 1 1/8 miles.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The focus of racing fans nationwide will turn toward south Florida for the next four months, beginning Saturday with the opening of the 2015-16 Gulfstream Park winter session.
Many of the country’s top horses, trainers, and jockeys will converge on Gulfstream once again this winter for a 90-day meet. The stakes schedule offers a track-record $11.6 million in purses and will, as usual, be anchored by a 3-year-old program that culminates with the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Effinex, winner of Friday’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, returned to Belmont Park early Sunday morning and that’s likely where he will stay this winter, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said.
Though Jerkens sends most of his better horses to Palm Meadows in south Florida for the winter, Effinex will likely get a break before returning for a 5-year-old campaign. This year, he made his seasonal debut in a second-level allowance race over Aqueduct’s inner track before making his next seven starts in graded stakes.
