Rock You, the winner of the All American Gold Cup at Ruidoso Downs in September, qualified for the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 12 after winning a $15,000 time trial last Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Taris, third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31, is a candidate for the $300,000 Go For Wand Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 27.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said on Wednesday that Taris will have a workout at Santa Anita on Friday to determine whether she is sent east for the Grade 3 Go For Wand, which is run at a mile for fillies and mares.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 winner Warren’s Veneda might start against males in the $150,000 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 28 in her first start since a seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
Trainer Craig Lewis said on Wednesday that the Grade 3 Native Diver or the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes at a mile on turf for fillies and mares at Del Mar on Nov. 29 are being considered. The Matriarch Stakes is a Grade 1.
The fields for Zia Park’s most prestigious races were drawn Tuesday, with Breeders’ Cup Distaff starter Calamity Kate headlining the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks and International Star set to make his first start since March in the $200,000 Zia Park Derby. The races will be run next Wednesday, Nov. 25.
The Zia Park Oaks is the richest offering Nov. 25 at Zia. The card has been dubbed the Land of Enchantment card by the Hobbs, N.M., track. There are eight stakes making up the program, with six for Thoroughbreds and two for Quarter Horses. The 11-race card starts at 12:15 p.m. Mountain.
Exaggerator was made the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot when entries for the race were taken Monday. He will start from post 9 in the 10-horse field on Saturday.
The Jackpot, a 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds, is the richest offering of the year at Delta. It will anchor a card of eight stakes worth $2.3 million. Saturday’s program will have a special afternoon post of 1:15 Central.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Owner and trainer Carlo Vaccarezza was one of the big stars of the Nov. 7 Millions Preview Day, capturing the Millions Turf Sprint Preview with Jewel of a Cat and the Juvenile Turf Stakes with Little Nick V. They are two of the seven winners Vaccarezza has saddled over the past two weeks at Gulfstream Park West, a streak he attributes to the maturing of his young horses and the advantages he believes he has gained since moving his operation to the Palm Meadows training center earlier this season.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Earlier this season, 94-year-old Jerry Bozzo gained nationwide attention by becoming the oldest trainer to saddle a stakes winner, sending out Flutterby to capture the Sea Lily Handicap at Gulfstream Park. Bozzo, who turned 95 last month, went on to win three stakes this year with Flutterby while falling just short of earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup when his homebred filly finished second at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney, a Win and You’re In qualifier for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Private Zone has been transferred to the barn of trainer Brian Lynch at Palm Meadows. A four-time Grade 1 winner, Private Zone was beaten three parts of a length by the favored Runhappy after opening up a clear lead at midstretch of the Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. He was trained by Jorge Navarro at the time.
Javier Castellano quietly broke his own single-season record for earnings by a North American jockey with a second-place finish in the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct on Sunday, according to figures from Equibase.
With $25,000 in earnings for riding Saythreehailmary’s in the $125,000 stakes race, Castellano’s 2015 earnings shot up to $26,237,639, more than $17,000 higher than the record he set in 2013. Of course, there’s still six weeks left in the racing season, and Castellano will have plenty of opportunities to add to his total.
Jose Ortiz began a five-day suspension Sunday stemming from the controversial disqualification of Magna Light in the Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga on July 25. Ortiz will resume riding this Sunday.
Magna Light went wire to wire to win the Sanford by three-quarters of a length but ducked outward in the stretch and then drifted inward late. He was placed third for interfering with Percolator, who finished third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths. Uncle Vinny, who finished second, was awarded the win.