OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Pandagate, the New York-bred 3-year-old who finished third in the $1 million UAE Derby in March, worked a half-mile in 50.11 seconds Thursday morning at Belmont Park as he prepares for a return to the races, likely in July.
One potential spot for Pandagate is the $150,000 New York Derby at Finger Lakes on July 15, trainer Christophe Clement said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Luis Cardenas, injured in a spill at Saratoga in the summer of 2021 and who has not ridden races since the fall of 2022, is back exercising horses with the goal of returning to race-riding this fall.
Cardenas, 27, has been exercising horses for trainer Tom Morley and a few others for about a month. He said he was cleared by doctors to return to riding in the morning, but not yet in the afternoon.
Micah Meeks learned she would have her first mount at the Alameda county fair in Pleasanton, Calif., on Friday when she saw the overnight earlier this week.
“I was kind of surprised,” she said on Tuesday. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
Meeks, 18, graduated from high school in Orinda, Calif., in December, deliberately completing her studies to spend mornings working horses at nearby Golden Gate Fields.
Rimprotector was the 21-1 outsider of six when he finished third in the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita last June.
A year later, Rimprotector is entered in the same $100,000 turf marathon on Sunday with a better recent record – consecutive wins in allowance races at Golden Gate Fields in March and April.
The wins have left trainer Tim McCanna bullish about Rimprotector’s chances compared to 2023.
“I think he’s a better horse since then,” McCanna said.
Two Southern Hemisphere fillies who have won or placed in Group 1 races are scheduled to start in the United States in the coming months with the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2 as a long-term goal.
Owner John Stewart said last weekend that Tutta La Vita, an Australian-bred filly who has finished second or third in three Group 1 races in that country since September, is scheduled to join trainer Ignacio Correas’s stable later this summer.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Drake’s Passage earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for the third straight race following his four-length victory in Sunday’s Commentator Stakes at Saratoga.
Trainer Christophe Clement has a bevy of options for Drake’s Passage’s next start, including the $125,000 Evan Shipman Stakes for New York-breds at Saratoga on Aug 9. Should Clement want to try open company, options include the $175,000 Battery Park Stakes at Delaware Park on July 7 and the Grade 3, $400,000 Monmouth Cup on July 20.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Next, who had been mentioned as possible for last weekend’s Grade 2 Suburban Stakes, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Brooklyn at 1 3/8 miles at Aqueduct on July 5, trainer Doug Cowans said.
Cowans said he kept Next out of the Suburban because “I was very worried about the pace scenario. I felt the Brooklyn was the better spot. The longer the better for this horse.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After Leave No Trace returned to her stakes-winning form in last month’s Grade 3 Vagrancy at Aqueduct, trainer Phil Serpe set her summer goal as the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 24. His choices on how to get Leave No Trace to that race were Saturday’s Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses or the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga on July 24.
Serpe chose the Bed o’ Roses thinking it was going to come up a short field. Naturally, the Bed o’ Roses drew 10 fillies and mares when it was drawn on Tuesday.
The Alameda County Fair meeting begins a four-week run at Pleasanton on Friday under the direction of a management team tasked with the not-so-simple job of salvaging Northern California racing in coming months.
Golden Gate Fields in Albany, near Oakland, closed permanently on Sunday. The track served as a regional hub, hosting more than seven months of racing annually since the closure of Bay Meadows in 2008.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Three-time leading Woodbine rider Kazushi Kimura has hired Tom Patton as his new agent, replacing Jordan Miller.
Kimura was the Sovereign Award winner for outstanding jockey while leading the Woodbine standings from 2021-2023. The 24-year-old native of Japan is currently tied for sixth at Woodbine with 12 wins from 105 mounts, including one stakes victory.
Patton also books mounts for the promising 19-year-old apprentice Pietro Moran, who is tied for 10th in the standings with eight wins.
