HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jody’s Pride, runner-up to Just F Y I in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, will make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes going one mile at Gulfstream Park on March 2.
Trainer Jorge Abreu said he was between running Jody’s Pride here or in the $200,000 Busher at Aqueduct the same day. He said after consulting with the owners and with the possibility of getting Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride, the decision was made to stay here.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fields for both the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes and listed Swale Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park will lose at least one starter as trainer Jose D’Angelo said Wednesday he plans to scratch his 3-year-olds from those races for other spots.
No More Time, who is entered in the Holy Bull, is going to run instead in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 10. Bentornato, the three-time stakes winner who was entered in the Swale, is being re-routed to the Grade 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby on Feb. 24.
Bellamore and Free Like a Girl have gone their separate ways for now after finishing a respective one-two in a rousing renewal of the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park.
Bellamore was a neck winner over millionaire Free Like a Girl and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 91. The start was Bellamore’s first of the year and first for Steve Asmussen, who trains her for Kaleem Shah.
“She’s on to Oaklawn and we’ll train her up to the Azeri,” Asmussen said Tuesday. “We’ll just see what we can do. I feel good about her.
Rillito Park, a fair track in Tucson that operates on weekends for several months of the year, is not likely to open this year for a live race meet due to a number of factors, according to the track’s general manager and local news reports.
After moving the bulk of its major stakes during the early spring and summer on this circuit to Saratoga for a one-week meet June 6-9, the New York Racing Association will offer 32 stakes worth $6.625 million at the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer session, it was announced Tuesday.
Due to the ongoing construction at Belmont Park, the spring/summer and fall meets typically held at Belmont are being conducted at Aqueduct in 2024 and likely 2025.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Witwatersrand, [pronounced vit-vaters-rond], is named for gold fields in South Africa. The 3-year-old filly will try to see if there is a pot of gold for her on dirt when she makes her first start on that surface in Saturday’s Grade 3, $125,000 Forward Gal Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
At 2, Witwatersrand, a daughter of Connect trained by Mark Casse, went 2 for 3 over Woodbine’s synthetic surface, including a victory in the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While Sierra Leone certainly earned his way onto the Triple Crown trail by rallying from last to finish second in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes last December, his trainer, Chad Brown, had another horse in that race he hasn’t given up on yet.
Happy with the way Domestic Product has trained this winter at Payson Park, Brown entered him in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park where he will take on Fierceness, the 2-year-old champion, in a field of eight.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Richard Baltas had a runner in the winner’s circle for the first time in 19 months, and the first time in California in nearly 21 months, on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Baltas completed a one-year suspension in December for violations related the administration of raceday supplements in the spring of 2022. Baltas reformed a stable in December, had the first runner of his comeback later that month and won a $32,000 claimer on turf with Flavius on Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – By Thanksgiving weekend a few months ago, Balladeer was a tired gelding. He could only manage a fourth in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup in his second start of November and his 11th start of 2023.
“We ran him too much, with the Breeders’ Cup and all that,” trainer George Papaprodromou reflected last weekend.
A 5-year-old, Balladeer had a brief rest in December before resuming training in advance of his 2024 debut in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita.
A group of Northern California-based owners, breeders, and trainers were urged by officials with the California State Fair in Sacramento on Friday to present elaborate details in February for a proposed Thoroughbred race meeting at the venue to begin as soon as late September.
The proposed race meeting would replace Golden Gate Fields as Northern California’s primary racing venue. Golden Gate Fields is scheduled to close in June.
