It is safe to expect big things from Micks Miracle, the winner of a maiden special-weight race for 2-year-olds Friday. Recent history is on his side.
A maiden special-weight race for 2-year-olds has been part of the opening-day program of the winter-spring meeting in four of the last five years. Three of those four winners went on to win stakes – Concord Point, The Factor, and Midnight Transfer. The Factor won five stakes, including the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes in 2011.
ARCADIA, Calif. – With a successful comeback accomplished in Friday’s Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita, Shared Belief is expected to make his 2015 debut Feb. 7 in the $500,000 San Antonio Stakes, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Saturday.
Shared Belief ($3) won the $301,000 Malibu Stakes over seven furlongs by a neck over the 72-1 longshot Conquest Two Step. The Malibu was Shared Belief’s sixth stakes win and his eighth win in nine career starts. His only loss was a troubled fourth behind Bayern in the Breeders’ Cup Classic here Nov. 1.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tom’s Tribute, the winner of the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes in July and two other stakes this year, worked five furlongs on turf in 1:06.80 at Santa Anita on Saturday, preparing for a start in the $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf here on Jan. 3. Tom’s Tribute was third in the Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar on Nov. 28 in his last start.
CYPRESS, Calif.- California Chrome was fitted with blinkers for a five-furlong workout at Los Alamitos on Saturday, trainer Art Sherman going to the headgear in an effort to get a more aggressive workout on the popular 3-year-old.
The plan worked – a little too well.
ARCADIA, Calif. - At the first opportunity, there is a pick six carryover at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.
There were no winning tickets in the pick six on Friday’s opening-day program, leading to a carryover of $146,352 for Saturday’s nine-race program. The pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.
Going into Friday’s final race, half of the 12 2-year-old maiden fillies in the one-mile turf race were not covered on pick six tickets. Dea ($21) caused the carryover with her come-from-behind win.
Jockey Edgar Prado took off all his mounts at Gulfsteam Park on Friday, with his status remaining day to day, according to his agent Bob Klesaris, in the wake of the frightening spill he was involved in here in Tuesday’s seventh race.
Prado was aboard Equilibrium, who clipped heels after pacesetter Royal Squeeze ducked out sharply and suddenly in the vicinity of the six-furlong pole.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Every horse on the grounds got the morning off from training with the track closed here at Gulfstream Park on Christmas Day. As a result, fewer than a handful turned in recorded breezes when getting back to work on Friday.
A bulked up Belmont Stakes week, another change to Memorial Day, and an addition to the Stars and Stripes Festival highlight the 2015 Belmont Park spring-summer meet, which includes 60 stakes worth a total of $18.55 million.
The 59-day Belmont season runs from April 29 through July 19.
In 2014, the New York Racing Association put its primary focus on Belmont Stakes Day, carding 10 stakes on that program. In 2015, NYRA also will try to emphasize the days leading up to the Belmont by putting two stakes on the Thursday card and five on the Friday program of Belmont week.
Jockey Kerwin Clark barely moved on the 3-year-old filly Cassatt as she dictated the pace and pulled away to a 5 3/4-length romp in the Tiffany Lass Stakes last Sunday. Trainer Larry Jones had chosen that $50,000 race as a tune-up for the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic.
“It was kind of what we were hoping for,” Jones said. “It turned out perfect for us. It shouldn’t empty her out.”
