Hootenanny and Luck of the Kitten, the first two finishers of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita last November, have been nominated for the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar next Thursday, but trainer Wesley Ward said a decision on their participation might not be made until this weekend.
The July 16 program is the opening day at Del Mar. Entries for the opening program will be taken Sunday. The Los Alamitos summer meeting closes Sunday.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, is being walked on a daily basis at a training center in Washington state, part of a recovery from a hip injury that led to the 4-year-old gelding being pulled up in the $1.45 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia in April.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mirage, a maiden winner in England who sold for approximately $592,000 at auction last month, will join trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable in the next week.
Mirage is expected to have her American debut at Del Mar this summer. The filly, by Oasis Dream, won her debut at Brighton on June 2 and was sold at the Goffs London sale held at Kensington Palace on June 15 to Dr. Jim Hay. The filly will race in the name of his wife, Fitri Hay, Callaghan said.
Mirage, who was previously trained by Jamie Osborne, was the second-most-expensive horse at the one-day sale.
Jockeys Richard Eramia, Deshawn Parker, Luis Quinonez, Adrian Ramos, Ricardo Santana Jr., and Jamie Theriot are all named to ride horses on the Stars of Texas program Saturday night at Lone Star Park. The card features four restricted stakes, led by a pair of divisions of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity and the $50,000 Assault Stakes, which drew defending race winner Texas Bling.
Ringneckdove will be making a couple of notable moves when she starts in the sixth race Friday at Louisiana Downs. She will be returning to dirt and shortening up in distance for the first-level allowance for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Ringneckdove set the pace to the late stages of an optional $17,500 claiming race at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf in her last start June 10 at Louisiana Downs. Earlier in the year, she won a $25,000 starter allowance at seven furlongs on dirt at Delta Downs.
The Pickett Factor might have positioned himself for a shot at stakes competition last Friday with a powerful second-level allowance win at Louisiana Downs. He was making his two-turn debut, and after tracking the pace early, the 3-year-old won by 5 3/4 lengths over older horses, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 85.
“I was quite proud of him,” said Ralph Irwin, who trains the horse for Melissa Cantacuzene. “He relaxed and rated kindly and then ran big for us. I was real happy with him. He seems to be coming into his own and maturing as he goes along.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – California Chrome was comfortably settled into the quarantine barn on the Arlington backstretch Wednesday after arriving Tuesday afternoon on a flight from Amsterdam. California Chrome left from England, where he had been based since early April after shipping from Dubai.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The year has started somewhat slowly for Work All Week, one of two graded stakes performers for the sprawling Midwest Thoroughbreds operation of Rich and Karen Papiese. But the other Midwest star of 2014, The Pizza Man, popped back into action this season in excellent form, winning the May 30 Opening Verse Stakes here by 2 1/2 lengths. Off that performance and last year’s form, he is one of the favorites Saturday in the Arlington Handicap.
ELMONT, N.Y. – John Velazquez will ride Tonalist again in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8. He plans to ride him a little better than he did in the Grade 2 Suburban, when he made a premature move and was beaten a head by Effinex.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Options abound for Ready for Rye, the Grade 2 Swale Stakes winner who on July 4 made a sparkling turf debut, winning a second-level allowance race here by 2 3/4 lengths. He ran seven furlongs in 1:20.94 and earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
Ready for Rye is by City Zip and out of the mare Embroidery, a two-time winner on turf, so his success on grass did not surprise trainer Tom Albertrani.
