Jockey Edwin Maldonado became the winningest daytime Thoroughbred rider at Los Alamitos with his victory on Classymademoiselle on Sunday.
Maldonado, 40, won his 128th race at Los Alamitos, surpassing the previous mark held by the retired Martin Pedroza, who most recently rode at Los Alamitos in 2019. Pedroza also had wins from the Orange County Fair meetings at Los Alamitos, which ended in 1991.
A busy summer at Del Mar will lead to a light fall campaign at Santa Anita for Dr. No No, the winner of the I’m Smokin Stakes for 2-year-old California-breds at Del Mar on Sept. 4.
Trainer Brian Koriner said on Sunday that Dr. No No will be pointed for the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile for 2-year-old statebreds at Santa Anita on Nov. 3 as part of the undercard on the first day of Breeders’ Cup races.
“He needs a break,” Koriner said. “If they run three times at Del Mar, they need time. Hopefully that will make him a better horse by giving him some time.”
Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., closed its already disappointing race meet on Saturday on a chaotic note, with the final 10 races of the card canceled due to riders’ concerns over the condition of the track and a snafu affecting payouts for a pick four.
Canterbury had a 13-race card scheduled for its closing night, but riders began expressing concerns about the main track prior to the card starting, following heavy rains on Friday and earlier on Saturday.
Canterbury Park canceled the final 10 races on its 13-race closing-night card Saturday after its riding colony felt both the main track and turf course were unsafe after the surfaces were hit with consecutive days of rain.
Golden Gate Fields, the flagship track in Northern California, is tentatively scheduled to remain open until next June and not close in December as originally planned, according to a statement issued Saturday by the track’s parent company, 1/ST Racing.
The announcement, which had been expected in recent weeks, potentially gives the Northern California circuit some stability through at least the first half of 2024.
Phil D’Amato, the leading trainer at the Del Mar summer meeting that ended last weekend, is planning to have at least two runners in the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 7.
D’Amato said earlier this week that he plans to run Turnerloose, who was second in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on Sept. 9, and Macadamia, who has not raced since a win in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 29.
Abel Cedillo is planning a return to riding at Los Alamitos on Sept. 22, nearly two months after he sustained a neck injury at Del Mar, according to his agent, Mike Ciani.
Cedillo received doctor’s clearance on Wednesday to resume exercising horses and plans to be at Santa Anita for workouts beginning Friday, Ciani said.
“He’s been rehabbing and he’s back into it now and feeling good,” Ciani said.
Cedillo plans to ride the final weekend of the two-week Los Alamitos from Sept. 22-24. The Santa Anita autumn meeting begins on Sept. 29.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If the stakes schedule for the 2023-24 Gulfstream Park championship meet, released Thursday, looks familiar, it should. The program nearly mirrors the schedule from last winter, highlighted once again by the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the $1 million Florida Derby.
The Championship meet will kick off three weeks earlier than a year ago, on Dec. 1, and run through March 31. A new turf course, currently scheduled to open in December, has been installed and will host 38 stakes, weather permitting.
No Nay Mets, winner of last Saturday’s Rosie’s Stakes at Colonial Downs, gives trainer George Weaver a third candidate for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, joining Royal Ascot winner Crimson Advocate and Amidst Waves.
“It’d be nice to have three live horses for three different categories instead of three live horses for the same race, but it’s better than having no live horses,” Weaver said Wednesday.
Last Call will be wheeling back in 13 days when she runs in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational at Aqueduct.
Last Call, trained in Canada by Kevin Attard, is coming out of a fourth-place finish in the $757,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 3. Though Last Call shipped back to Woodbine after that race, trainer Kevin Attard said the Jockey Club Oaks was always a consideration. Though not among the initial list of invitees, Last Call was given an invitation by the New York Racing Association this week.
