ARCADIA, Calif. -- Verraco’s win in an optional claimer for 3-year-olds on Friday may lead to a start in the $800,000 Sunland Derby in New Mexico on March 22.
Trainer Jim Cassidy said on Saturday that Verraco emerged from his second career win on Friday in good order, and that Sunland Derby and the $550,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 21 were mentioned as possibilities by owner Deron Pearson.
Sr. Quisqueyano had his final prep for the Santa Anita Handicap shortly after the second renovation break Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park,, working six furlongs in 1:16.62 from the five-eighths pole in company with stable mate Recharged. Sr. Quisqueyano, who won the Sunshine Millions Classic in his previous start, posted splits of 26.37, 39.52, and 1:04.37 to the wire then galloped out well, pulling up seven-eighths in 1:30.99.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer A.C. Avila has been suspended 60 days and fined $10,000 by the California Horse Racing Board after one of his runners tested in excess of the permitted level of the tranquilizer acepromazine, according to a statement published Friday on the racing board’s website.
Private Prospect, a multiple stakes winner who finished an uncharacteristic seventh in the Grade 3 Southwest, will not advance to the Rebel, said trainer Mike Campbell. The horse’s next start is still being determined, he said, but an option is the $100,000 Gazebo for 3-year-olds at six furlongs March 21 at Oaklawn.
The next-race plans for Hillbilly Royalty, fifth in the Southwest in his stakes debut, are also being determined, according to trainer Donnie Von Hemel.
I Spent It, the winner of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special last August, is nearing a return to action, according to trainer Tony Dutrow. The horse, who also ran second in the Grade 1 Hopeful last summer at Saratoga, is gearing up for his first out since October.
“We just could not be happier with his training at Oaklawn,” Dutrow said Thursday. “He’s about every day of three weeks to the races. He will not be ready one day before that.”
I Spent It races for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong and Three Chimneys Farm.
Ivan Fallunovalot, who has put up some of the best Beyer Speed Figures in 2015, is scheduled to make his next start in the $100,000 Hot Springs at Oaklawn on March 7, said trainer Tom Howard.
Ivan Fallunovalot has won both of his starts at the Oaklawn meet, taking an allowance with a 108 Beyer on Jan. 22 and then the $100,000 King Cotton with a 105 Beyer on Feb. 7. Both of those races came at six furlongs, the distance of the Hot Springs.
“That’s what we’re pointing to,” Howard said Friday.
Howard said Calvin Borel has the mount.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Salutos Amigos, among the top sprinters on the East Coast if not the country, is “50-50” to make next Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap here, according to trainer and part-owner David Jacobson.
Salutos Amigos, who won the Grade 3 Toboggan on Feb. 7, has missed training time due to a recurring foot issue.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Work All Week, the champion sprinter of 2014, was tentatively scheduled to arrive at Oaklawn the latter part of February, but due to the winter storm system that has gripped Arkansas, he’s now likely to ship to town in March, according to trainer Roger Brueggemann.
“He’s still in Florida because of the weather,” Brueggemann said.
Brueggemann said when the weather breaks in Arkansas, plans will be made to bring Work All Week to Oaklawn. The track lost its fifth program of the meet Friday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The hot-riding Junior Alvarado has picked up the mount on Classy Class for next Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes. On Friday, Alvarado got acquainted with the 3-year-old colt, guiding him through a half-mile workout in 49.03 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
The work was the one and only move Classy Class will have between his third-place finish in the Grade 3 Withers on Feb. 7 and the Gotham. Classy Class, working by himself, went his first quarter in 24.01 seconds and his second quarter in 25.02. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.24.
