OZONE PARK, N.Y. - From the frozen tundra of Aqueduct to the scorching desert in Dubai.
Salutos Amigos, who has become the top sprinter on the East Coast, will make his next start in the $2 million Golden Shaheen at Meydan on the undercard of the March 28 Dubai World Cup, trainer David Jacobson confirmed Monday afternoon.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Honor Code and Private Zone put on a pretty good show in Saturday’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, and if all goes well over the next several months, they could meet again at Belmont Park in the prestigious Metropolitan Handicap.
Honor Code was back at his winter quarters at Payson Park on Monday morning and doing well according to trainer Shug McGaughey following his thrilling last-to-first victory over Private Zone in the one-mile Gulfstream Park Handicap.
Untapable and Tapiture will begin their 4-year-old seasons with new riders Saturday at Oaklawn Park. The now-retired Rosie Napravnik was the regular rider of both horses last year.
Napravnik was aboard Untapable for 9 of her 11 career starts. Napravnik announced her retirement in the Santa Anita winner’s circle on Oct. 31 after guiding Untapable to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Texas Red, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall, returned to Santa Anita on Monday after recuperating on a farm from a foot injury, and will begin his Hail Mary quest to make the May 2 Kentucky Derby with a half-mile workout on Saturday, trainer Keith Desormeaux said Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Secret Circle is going to Dubai, but Hoppertunity is not, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning at Santa Anita.
Secret Circle is bound for the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai, Baffert said after Secret Circle worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 in company Sunday morning at Santa Anita.
Secret Circle finished second in the Palos Verdes Handicap in January in his last start. His biggest win to date came in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He was second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief is getting ready to take his act on the road. Trainer and co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer said the $1.5 million Metropolitan Mile on Belmont Stakes Day, June 6, at Belmont Park was “right on the radar” as the next major objective for Shared Belief, who won his 10th race in 11 starts Saturday in the Santa Anita Handicap.
“The Santa Anita Handicap was a point race,” Hollendorfer said Sunday morning at Santa Anita. “We got to our point race and accomplished that. The point race now would be the Met Mile.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Dortmund, Prospect Park, and Bolo – the first three finishers in the San Felipe Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita – all came out of the race well and are set for a rematch in four weeks in the Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby, their trainers said Sunday morning.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite El Kabeir’s two prior graded stakes victories and his consistency, owner Ahmed Zayat wasn’t truly convinced he was a Kentucky Derby horse. Until Saturday, that is.
After watching El Kabeir rally from second to last in a 10-horse field to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, Zayat now believes his gray son of Scat Daddy belongs in the starting gate May 2 at Churchill Downs.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Carpe Diem exited his five-length victory Saturday in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby in good fashion, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning from his Palm Beach Downs winter base. The Giant’s Causeway colt most likely will be pointed to the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, an April 4 race in which the Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Ami’s Flatter also might race next, according to his trainer, Josie Carroll.
