OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After Good Luck Gus won the Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-breds on Dec. 14, part-owner Michael Dubb said he would like to give the colt a chance in an open-company stakes for 3-year-olds early in 2015.
Good Luck Gus, who has worked only once since the Damon Runyon, was not among the 24 nominees for next Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Belle Gallantey, a dual Grade 1 winner in 2014, could decide her own future based on how she runs in Saturday’s $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.
A good performance and she likely will continue racing. A poor performance – akin to her fifth-place finish in the Affectionately Stakes on New Year’s Day – and she could be retired and bred.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is changing paths to jump-start Mawthooq’s return to the Triple Crown trail.
Mawthooq, the beaten 6-5 favorite when finishing 10 1/2 lengths behind Bluegrass Singer in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 3, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 7, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin had considered keeping Mawthooq in Florida and running him in an allowance race, but he wants to find out sooner if the son of Distorted Humor should remain on the Triple Crown trail.
Nearly a month into his retirement, Manny Tortora already is pretty bored. But at least he still has some of the earnings for which he worked his entire adult life in the racing business.
“I was going to go broke if I kept going the way I was,” said Tortora. “I was losing $5,000 a month. The workers’ compensation was about to kill me.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nominations are out for the Grade 1 Donn Handicap, and along with the expected probables, including defending champ Lea and a host of older handicap stars from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, the list included one surprise – Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity, who is stabled on the West Coast with trainer Bob Baffert.
The Donn shares top billing at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 7 with the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap.
It was quite the five-day run for trainer Larry Jones. At Fair Grounds last Thursday, Jones gained a starter for the Risen Star Stakes in Bluff. On Saturday at Sam Houston, he won two stakes, the $400,000 Ladies Classic with Cassatt, and the $50,000 Allen’s Landing with the 3-year-old Exodus. And on Monday at Fair Grounds, Lovely Maria ran her way into the Rachel Alexandra Stakes with a front-running allowance-race victory over the promising Shook Up.
There’s no question Steve Asmussen loves winning horse races. And he would have loved for the 3-year-old filly Shook Up to have won her first start against winners in an entry-level allowance race Monday at Fair Grounds.
She didn’t, finishing second as the overwhelming favorite to wire-to-wire winner Lovely Maria, but Asmussen remains bullish on Shook Up’s future, and said she would still be pointed to the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 21 at Fair Grounds.
A winter storm that brought between 8 and 14 inches of snow to the New York metropolitan area before ending late Tuesday morning forced New York Racing Association officials to cancel Wednesday’s card at Aqueduct.
It is the sixth full-card cancellation of the meet – all since Jan. 7. Another card was scrapped after two races were run.
Fort Erie Race Track has announced a 40-day race meet for 2015, which is a two-week extension of the 2014 season.
Racing is scheduled for Tuesdays and Sundays throughout the meet, which runs from June 2 through Oct. 20. Tuesday racing will have a 4:15 p.m. Eastern post time until Sept. 1, when it will be rolled back to 1:50 p.m. until closing day. Sunday racing will be conducted with a 1:50 p.m. start time.
Winning Image, an 8-year-old daughter of Southern Image who won 14 of 34 starts and $750,237 while racing primarily on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, was purchased for $100,000 by Calumet Farm on Jan. 13 at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.
Winning Image, owned by Martin Scafidi, won 10 stakes during her career. Five of those wins came at Parx, where she was based with trainer Michael Aro.
