Jockey John Velazquez believes he will only ride for another two or three years and hopes there’s another Kentucky Derby with his name on it before he retires.
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DRF Past Performances
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Oaks has been very, very good to Larry Jones.
His first Oaks contender, Island Sand, finished second to Ashado in 2004, and from that particular race onward, for whatever reason, Jones’s training career finally skyrocketed, more than two decades after he saddled his first horse in 1982. From 2003, when his horses made $806,085, his stable earnings increased more than sevenfold in 2007 to $5,931,956.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will have eight races Sunday, one fewer than usual after a slow morning of entries Thursday.
Sunday’s eight races drew 64 entries before scratches. There are two six-horse fields and two seven-horse fields in the first four races.
Racing secretary Rick Hammerle said one reason for the dearth of entries is that some local horses have headed to Churchill Downs for races on Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days, May 1-2.
“There are a lot of horses out of town, a lot of trainers out of town, and a lot of jockeys out of town,” he said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stellar Wind, the dominant 3-year-old filly in Southern California, worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 at Santa Anita on Friday in advance of the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 1.
Victor Espinoza was aboard Stellar Wind, who won the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes on Feb. 28 and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 4.
“It was an ‘A’ work,” trainer John Sadler said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, who was pulled up in the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia on April 18 and later found with a hip injury, has been returned to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s stable at Golden Gate Fields.
Hollendorfer said on Friday that Shared Belief will remain at Golden Gate Fields “for a few days” before being transferred to the Pegasus Training Center in Washington state for a summer of rest. Shared Belief is not expected to race for the rest of the year.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Friday was a pivotal morning for Bolo and jockey Rafael Bejarano at Santa Anita.
A little more than a week before Bolo’s scheduled start in the $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2, Bejarano had a chance to exercise his mount for the first time. What he discovered was a colt with sharp acceleration who can be patient.
Trainer Mark Casse has nominated five 3-year-old fillies to next Sunday’s $150,000 Fury Stakes, a key prep for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on June 14, including Canada’s champion juvenile filly of 2014, Conquest Harlanate.
Conquest Harlanate has been training in Florida since she was eased in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 3, and she had her first published work in two months at Woodbine on Thursday. But Casse said he was undecided on whether to run Conquest Harlanate in the Fury after she worked five furlongs from the gate in 1:02.20.
Emma-Jayne Wilson will return to Ascot in August to participate in the Shergar Cup jockey challenge after being named captain of the girls’ team for the second year in a row.
Wilson’s team finished second by a point to Team Europe in the 2014 Shergar Cup, and Wilson finished second in the race for the Silver Saddle, two points behind Olivier Peslier. She finished the challenge with two wins and a close second in five mounts.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jacks Escarpment came within three-quarters of a length of remaining undefeated in his seasonal debut April 11 in the Woodstock Stakes at Woodbine. Now, he’ll stretch out to seven furlongs for the $150,000 Queenston Stakes on May 2, trainer Nicholas Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said Jacks Escarpment, who wintered in Ontario, was a little short in his training leading up to the Woodstock.
Travis Stone realizes what a unique place he is in. At age 30, he already has one of the best jobs in racing as the new race-caller at Churchill Downs.
“It all started sinking in when I got here this week,” said Stone. “It’s very exciting, that’s for sure.”
Stone, who started his announcing career in 2006 at Louisiana Downs, becomes the eighth caller in track history and replaces Larry Collmus, who moved on to the New York Racing Association after working one year here. Mark Johnson preceded Collmus.