It will be back to the grass for Breeders Cup’ Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Valiant Force, following his disappointing fourth-place finish behind the undefeated Beeline in Saturday’s six-furlong Hutcheson Stakes.
Valiant Force was bumped between horses leaving the gate, recovered to move within easy striking distance of the leaders turning for home, but then flattened out and finished four lengths behind the winner while making his much-anticipated main track-debut in the Hutcheson.
A consortium of three county fair associations will present a plan to the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday to run a 10-week meeting this fall at the Alameda County Fair Grounds in Pleasanton that will replace Golden Gate Fields as a year-round base for Thoroughbred racing in Northern California.
Golden State Racing, a group of Northern California-based horsemen working in conjunction with the California Authority of Racing Fairs, has proposed a 26-day season from Oct. 19 through Dec. 15 racing on a Friday-through-Sunday basis.
Big Pond, the easy winner of the Spring Fever Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares last month, is scheduled to work at Santa Anita on Saturday in preparation for a start in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland on April 6, trainer Tim Yakteen said on Friday.
Big Pond, who races for owner and breeder George Krikorian, had a workout at Santa Anita last weekend even though she was not given a time, Yakteen said. The unrecorded work was the first for Big Pond since a win by three lengths in the Spring Fever Stakes on Feb. 18.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Fierceness continued preparations for his expected start in the $1 million Florida Derby on March 30, working five furlongs in 1:01.03 seconds in company with Tuscan Sky early Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs.
Vlahos, the dazzling winner of a maiden race for 3-year-old sprinters in his debut at Santa Anita on Saturday, was sold earlier this week to Ty Leatherman and Todd Cady and transferred to trainer Doug O’Neill.
The transaction was confirmed by O’Neill and previous trainer Luis Mendez.
Mendez said Vlahos, a ridgling, left his stable on Tuesday. The sale price was not disclosed.
“He ran impressive,” Mendez said. “Our team did our job and the owner decided to sell him.”
Jockey Ruben Silvera will likely be out five weeks after breaking his collarbone in a spill Monday at Parx, according to his agent, Richard Englander.
Silvera and apprentice jockey Eliseo Ruiz, also involved in the spill, were named on horses Thursday at Aqueduct but did not ride. Ruiz, according to Englander, had a hoof imprint on his left forearm but X-rays taken on the arm were negative. Ruiz is expected to miss one week. A third rider involved in the spill, Julio Correa, was fine and rode Tuesday and Wednesday at Parx.
Just a Touch, second as the favorite in the Gotham Stakes, is expected to have a workout Saturday at Belmont Park, as his connections continue to mull over where he will make his next start.
The Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 6 is a possibility, as is the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland the same day. Dustin Dugas, the New York-based assistant to trainer Brad Cox said there is tentatively a van lined up to take Just a Touch to Kentucky on Tuesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Fingal’s Cave, the multiple New York-bred stakes winning mare, will make her next start in the Grade 3, $175,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct on April 6, trainer David Donk said Thursday.
Fingal’s Cave had been mentioned as a potential runner for the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland the same day. She is also nominated to the $100,000 Biogio’s Rose, a one-mile race for New York-breds, at Aqueduct on March 23.
The Chosen Vron, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes for sprinters at Del Mar last July, was named the 2023 California-bred Horse of the Year in a ceremony at a hotel in Arcadia on Tuesday.
The Chosen Vron won 6 of 7 starts and earned $627,000 in 2023, all in stakes, including five races for statebreds. He was fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in November in his only loss.
A 6-year-old gelding, The Chosen Vron has won two subsequent starts for statebreds. He is entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.
Newgrange, sixth of seven as the 3-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3, will be rested until late spring or summer after trainer Phil D’Amato said on Wednesday that he is concerned about the 5-year-old horse’s breathing.
Newgrange worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Santa Anita on Wednesday. After the work, D’Amato said Newgrange will not be sent to the United Arab Emirates for the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30 and will not have a workout in coming weeks.
