OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Racing was canceled Friday at Aqueduct following the second race after two horses broke down and jockeys complained of blowing snow and some ice particles in the track.
It was the third cancellation of the week after Wednesday’s and Thursday’s cards were scrapped due to extreme cold.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Alonso Quinonez may try to win his second stakes in Saudi Arabia later this month, he said Thursday. Quinonez won a stakes at a track in Riyadh on Jan. 3.
Quinonez was winless in stakes in 2014 in the United States. He rode Alberts Hope to victory in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar in August 2013.
◗ Matt Ascanio, whose father, Humberto, was a longtime assistant to the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, has become a jockeys’ agent. Ascanio recently began booking rides for Irving Orozco.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Wild Dude, the winner of the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita last year, is nearing a return to racing and could start in the $200,000 Palos Verdes here Jan. 31.
On Friday at Santa Anita, Wild Dude worked six furlongs in 1:12.60. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Wild Dude has worked steadily in recent weeks. The Palos Verdes is run over six furlongs.
“We have time to get him ready for that race,” Hollendorfer said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Candy Boy, the winner of the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes in 2014, and Cool Cowboy, a winner of three stakes, have been sold to race in Dubai, according to a statement released by Dubai racing officials.
The horses are in quarantine in Florida and are expected to arrive in Dubai in late January, said the horses’ Dubai-based trainer, Doug Watson, on Friday.
A solid field, headed by Grade 2 Golden Rod winner West Coast Belle and Top Decile, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Alcibiades, is taking shape for the $125,000 Silverbulletday Stakes next Saturday at Fair Grounds. That race at a mile and 70 yards for 3-year-old fillies is the first stakes prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks.
NEW ORLEANS – Perhaps Eagle and Another Lemon Drop will nod at each other or shake hooves in the paddock before the Lecomte next Saturday at Fair Grounds. After all, they have known each other since they were babies being broken at Classic Mile Training Center in Ocala, Fla.
“They’re like grade-school buddies,” said Bill Recio, the trainer who broke Eagle and Another Lemon Drop. “The funny thing is, they were both in the same barn. They trained together.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Cornelio Velasquez was named to ride horses this week at Aqueduct but has pushed back his return for at least 10 more days, his agent, Bill Castle, said Thursday.
Velasquez, involved in a spill Dec. 5 in which he fractured his collarbone, will now return either Jan. 19 or 22. Castle said Velasquez told him he wants to get fitter before returning to ride races.
Velasquez was the third-leading rider on the New York Racing Association circuit in 2014 with 177 wins. He won the Aqueduct fall-meet riding title.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer David Jacobson has two candidates for the $100,000 Hollie Hughes here on Jan. 18, Big Business and Be Bullish, but he likely won’t run them against each other.
Big Business, the recent winner of the Alex M. Robb here at 1 1/16 miles, is a candidate to cut back to six furlongs in either the Hollie Hughes or the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint on Jan. 17 at Gulfstream Park.
Formerly open only to Florida-breds, the Sunshine Millions is now also open to horses bred in New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Willet may not be done racing just yet.
Following Willet’s third-place finish as the favorite in the Garland of Roses at Aqueduct on Dec. 6, trainer and part-owner Jimmy Iselin seemed to be leaning toward retiring Willet, a four-time New York-bred stakes winner.
But in the subsequent month, Iselin has been pleased with the 7-year-old mare’s training. If she continues to impress, Willet is likely to run in the $100,000 Interborough Stakes here Jan. 17.
Live racing at Aqueduct was canceled Thursday, the second straight cancellation due to cold weather. Both Aqueduct and Belmont were to be open for simulcasting.
The forecasted high for Thursday in Ozone Park, where Aqueduct is located, was 21 degrees with wind chills in the single digits. Wednesday had similar temperatures and wind gusts in the 30- to 40-mile-per-hour range.
The New York Racing Association was hopeful of resuming racing on Friday when temperatures were to return to the low 30s with a 60 percent chance of snow showers.
