Los Alamitos has received accreditation from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance after officials with that organization reviewed the track’s racing operation earlier this month.
The review focused on a variety of issues, including backstretch facilities, medication, track maintenance, and safeguards for the betting public.
Less than two months after emergency colic surgery, reigning two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan showed no ill effects when he resumed breezing Friday with an easy half-mile workout in 50.40 seconds on Keeneland’s turf course.
The work left his trainer, Charlie LoPresti, relieved regarding Wise Dan and his prospects going forward.
“I was nervous about this one,” he said.
Track clockers timed Wise Dan galloping out five-eighths in 1:02.40 and three-quarters in 1:17 under regular exercise rider Damien Rock.
Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens will stop riding immediately and have knee replacement surgery, but hopes to return after he does rehabilitation, he said Thursday afternoon on HRTV.
Stevens, 51, was forced to quit riding twice previously, both times largely because of knee issues. He returned to riding this most-recent time in January 2013 and had great success over the past 18 months, including victories last year in the Preakness Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Trainer Martin Trejo and jockey David Alvarez could have a memorable night Saturday at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. They have the fastest qualifiers in the two richest races on a program of seven Quarter Horse stakes for Louisiana-breds.
Trejo and Alvarez will team with I Am Intriguing in the featured $645,645 Lee Berwick Futurity, the centerpiece of the meet and a restricted Grade 1. They also will join forces with Allizoom in the $217,545 Delta Downs Derby, a restricted Grade 2. Other races making up the closing-night card that is worth more than $1.2 million include:
AUBURN, Wash. – There has been little drama this year in the stakes ranks at Emerald Downs. Why Not Be Perfect pulled a $59.80 surprise in the Governor’s Handicap for older horses, but since that late-May shocker, Emerald’s stakes have been dominated by favorites. It could be more of the same Sunday, with Del Rio Harbor likely to be a short price in the $50,000 Seattle Slew Handicap for 3-year-olds.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Three-time Grade 1 winner My Miss Aurelia might finally be ready to launch her much-anticipated comeback after breezing four furlongs in 48.34 seconds Thursday at Saratoga. My Miss Aurelia breezed in company with stablemate Got Lucky over a fast but drying-out racetrack shortly after the renovation break.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Rosie Napravnik said she plans to make her return to the saddle on opening day of Saratoga.
Napravnik sustained a shoulder separation June 16 when a horse she was working at Churchill Downs suffered a fatal breakdown. Napravnik began getting on horses at Belmont on July 5, and she had considered riding this Saturday at Arlington Park but opted to give herself one more week.
Honor Code, knocked off the Triple Crown trail this year with a tear in his right hind suspensory, was scheduled to arrive at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland on Saturday to continue training toward a comeback that trainer Shug McGaughey hopes takes place in the fall.
Honor Code has been based at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, where he has been jogging every other day for a couple of weeks, according to McGaughey.
“I’m going to get him [to Fair Hill] and jog him for four or five days, just to get him used to the track, and then start galloping him,” McGaughey said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Typically, the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes doesn’t attract a large field. In three of the last four years, the opening-day feature at Saratoga has drawn only six juvenile fillies. This year, the racing office could be scrambling to get that many.
The race for leading jockey at the Belmont spring-summer meet most likely will come down to Sunday’s closing-day card.
Entering Thursday’s action, Javier Castellano held a 49-48 advantage over Irad Ortiz Jr. Castellano was named on three horses Thursday, while Ortiz was serving the final day of a three-day suspension. Both were named on five horses Friday. Ortiz was named on nine horses Saturday, while Castellano will be at Delaware Park to ride Princess of Sylmar in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap.
