Tue, 02/10/2015 - 15:05

Lady Sabelia has earned shot at Fritchie

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Lady Sabelia makes her graded stakes debut in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie on Saturday.

Filly and mare sprinters seldom get to run for $300,000, which is why the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park on Saturday is drawing runners from California, Florida, and New York. But one top contender won’t have to travel at all.

Lady Sabelia has resided in trainer Robin Graham’s barn at Laurel since 2012. And while that may give her a slight edge Saturday, she has more going for her than just home-field advantage. Lady Sabelia has been mopping the decks with her competition since last spring, and has won five of her last six races.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 15:01

Chad Brown first-timers score

Barbara D. Livingston

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Chad Brown won three races over the weekend with 3-year-olds making their first start, but he said he is in no rush to push them along the Derby trail.

The winners were Lieutenant Colonel (by Colonel John) and Rare Art (by Speightstown) on Saturday, and Delightful Joy (by Tapit) on Sunday.

“Obviously there are some nice races at this time of year, but we’re always looking at the whole year,” Brown said. “I mean, we’ll look at how a race like the Swale is coming up, but I’m more about big picture.”

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 14:55

Rare debut winner for Buff Bradley

Michael Amoruso
Trainer Buff Bradley could have a good one in the Kitten's Joy colt Divisidero.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Buff Bradley has had lightning strike twice in his 22-year training career with $2.1-million-earner Brass Hat and two-time champion Groupie Doll.

No one is suggesting a 3-year-old colt named Divisidero is about to follow in their footsteps, but a rallying triumph by the 3-year-old Kitten’s Joy colt in his career debut here Saturday “sure was impressive,” Bradley said.

Divisidero, a $250,000 yearling purchase for the Gunpowder Farms of Pennsylvania businessman Tom Keithley, was sent off at 25-1 in the 1 1/16-mile maiden race on grass.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 14:40

Harlington's Rose will remain on dirt to prep for Las Flores

Benoit & Associates
Harlington's Rose wins the Kalookan Queen on Dec. 28 at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Harlington’s Rose became a stakes winner in her 18th start in the minor Kalookan Queen Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 28.

Trainer Steve Knapp has the goal of making the 4-year-old filly a graded stakes winner this spring, which is why he scratched Harlington’s Rose from the minor Wishing Well Stakes on turf last Sunday in favor of an optional claimer at six furlongs on dirt at Santa Anita on Thursday.

Knapp envisions the optional claimer as a prep for the $100,000 Las Flores, a Grade 3 stakes for older fillies and mares at six furlongs on March 8.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 14:35

Kentucky Derby door opens a crack for Casse

Shigeki Kikkawa
Danzig Moon has given trainer Mark Casse a reason to think the Kentucky Derby is a possibility.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mark Casse had been resigned to missing the Kentucky Derby chase this year. But at least one promising colt has him thinking he might have a shot to make the May 2 Derby after all.

A 4 3/4-length victory by Danzig Moon in a one-mile maiden race Saturday at Gulfstream Park has earned the son of Malibu Moon a berth in the March 7 Tampa Bay Derby, said Casse.

Tue, 02/10/2015 - 14:05

Untapable, Tapiture go to work for Asmussen

Debra A. Roma
Untapable wins the 2014 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita Park.

Mondays often are busy workout days for the Steve Asmussen barn, and Feb. 9 at Fair Grounds was no exception, as Asmussen sent all his best Fair Grounds-based stock through timed drills.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 14:07

Kid Cruz needs a bit more time

Barbara D. Livingston
Multiple stakes winner Kid Cruz will walk under tack for about two weeks before starting training in mid-December.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Kid Cruz is progressing well, trainer Linda Rice doesn’t think he will be ready to run this coming weekend.

Sidelined since August, when he came out of a fourth-place finish in the Travers with a knee chip, Kid Cruz worked six furlongs in 1:15.25 Sunday morning over the Belmont Park training track. It was his fifth work for his return and second at six furlongs. Rice had targeted next Monday’s $100,000 Evening Attire Stakes at Aqueduct, but said it’s unlikely Kid Cruz would run.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 14:02

Ocean Knight looking to crash the party in Gotham

SV Photography
Ocean Knight, winning the Sam F. Davis at Tampa, is being pointed for the Gotham, where he could meet the top three finishers from Saturday's Withers.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers Stakes could very well run back in next month’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, that race also looks like the destination for Ocean Knight, undefeated winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 31.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 13:57

Report: Tampa trainer arrested

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Kenneth Wirth, a trainer who has raced a stable at Tampa Bay Downs since 1996, was arrested Feb. 1 and accused of maliciously stalking jockey Oriana Rossi, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times.

The report said that according to an arrest affidavit, Wirth, 57, admitted to harassing Rossi, 32, who has ridden a number of horses for the trainer. According to the Times , Rossi reported she had been receiving vulgar text messages from various phone numbers.

Mon, 02/09/2015 - 13:55

Four riders recovering from spill

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Four jockeys including the meet’s leading rider, Antonio Gallardo, continue to recover from injuries following a multi-horse spill during Friday’s sixth race.

La Ranchera, with Alice Cartwright aboard, went down heavily along the inside leaving the turn of the 5 1/2-furlong sprint. That caused a chain reaction with Gallardo, Huber Villa-Gomez, and Janelle Campbell all being unseated from their mounts.