The last Grade 1 races of the year for 2-year-olds highlight the December meeting at Los Alamitos, a, three-week, 12-day run that begins Dec. 3 and closes Dec. 20.
The $350,000 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 19 is the richest race of the meet and proved significant in its first running at Los Alamitos last year, with Dortmund defeating Firing Line and Mr. Z. in a thriller. All went on to be important 3-year-olds in 2015.
The venerable Saint Leon, a two-time winner of the Arlington Sprint, died suddenly early Tuesday after being stricken with internal distress.
Saint Leon had been sent Sunday from Hawthorne for a winter break at a northern Illinois farm. On Tuesday morning, Monique Cameron, the farm operator, called trainer Michele Boyce and said Saint Leon was found down in his stall, unable to rise, when the time came for morning turnout.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Chris Emigh has won nine riding titles, but the most recent of them came in 2006, and at 44, supposedly on the down slope of a long and successful career in the saddle, Emigh’s name didn’t figure to light the top of a meet-long leaderboard ever again. Yet roughly halfway through the Hawthorne fall-winter season, there’s Emigh, perched atop the jockey standings, his 27 wins through Wednesday eight better than Tim Thornton and Santo Sanjur.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mac Daddy Mac is one of the top contenders Saturday in race 8, the Bob Hope Stakes. The very next race, the last of the day, includes Watch My Dust, who ran second to Mac Daddy Mac, and Drefong, who was fifth as the favorite, when all three were making their debuts Oct. 24 at Santa Anita.
Of the 14 2-year-olds entered in the six-furlong finale on Saturday, nine have yet to race. Peter Miller trains two of them – Eric the Trojan and Triple Clown – but said he might end up scratching Triple Clown.
“I think he’s a couple of works short,” Miller said Thursday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Donworth, the winner of the Stanton Stakes at Delaware Park and the runner-up in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland earlier this year, will join trainer Doug O’Neill’s barn this weekend after being acquired this past week at the Keeneland November sale.
Donworth, a son of Tiznow, was purchased for $550,000 by O’Neill’s brother, Dennis, on behalf of owner Paul Reddam. As a 3-year-old with just four career starts, Donworth has plenty of upside going into his 4-year-old year, Dennis O’Neill said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – In the first five starts of his career, Brimstoned never could even finish in the money. But a week after that fifth start, he was gelded. Since then, he has raced three times, winning all, and he will try to increase that streak to four on Saturday at Del Mar in race 7, a first-level allowance going one mile.
Nominations to the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 25 closed on Tuesday, and according to a listing on Equibase, the group of 29 fillies made eligible for the race includes Peace and War, the winner of last year’s Grade 1 Alcibiades.
The Zia Park Oaks anchors the Land of Enchantment program of stakes that also includes the $200,000 Zia Park Derby and the $150,000 Zia Park Distance Championship. Dortmund, International Star, Mobile Bay, and War Story were among the 26 horses made eligible to the 1 1/16-mile Zia Park Derby.
Remington Park on Saturday night suspended turf racing for the remainder of the meet, which ends Dec. 13.
Remington’s turf is dormant with overnight temperatures in Oklahoma City now in the mid-30s, and the decision was made to close the course, according to track spokesman Dale Day.
Remington on Friday night will add a pick five to its wagering menu for the first time in track history. The bet will cover the first five races and has a 50-cent minimum. The bet will be called the “FiveTime.”
Saratoga Special winner Exaggerator and Champagne Stakes 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 will be run on a special afternoon program Nov. 21.
The Jackpot card includes the Grade 3, $400,000 Delta Downs Princess for 2-year-old fillies. There are 10 pre-entries to that one-mile race, led by La Appassionata. Final entries for both stakes will be taken Monday.
Palace should rule a solid favorite when he faces eight rivals Saturday in the $350,000 De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park.
Palace comes into the De Francis off a half-length win over New York-breds in the Hudson Handicap at Belmont Park on Oct. 24 and a fourth-place finish, beaten less than a length, in the Grade 1 Vosburgh Sept. 26 at Saratoga. He had missed some training prior to the Vosburgh, having injured a foot July 30 in the John Morrissey Stakes at Saratoga, and the two-time Grade 1 winner likely will take a step forward Saturday.
