ARCADIA, Calif. – Stronghold, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in 2024, will have a delayed start to his 2026 season.
Trainer Phil D’Amato withdrew Stronghold from Sunday’s Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita in favor of races at Keeneland or Oaklawn Park in coming weeks.
“I think he’s one work away,” D’Amato said on Sunday morning. “There are a couple of spots at Oaklawn Park and Keeneland. I think they will prove to be better, timing-wise.”
Midwest stakes winner Express Kid will not be sent to California for Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
“He spiked a little fever at feed time” on Sunday, trainer Justin Evans said on Monday morning from Sunland Park in New Mexico. “It blew us all out of the water. We had to treat him this morning. I’ve had two or three in the last week that have spiked a temperature.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer David Fawkes was 35,000 feet in the air and still had eight hours left on his flight back to the United States when admitting Monday morning he was more than ready to get back home after spending the past 10 days in Dubai. The journey was part of a whirlwind couple of months for the locally based and now globe-trotting horseman, who journeyed twice to the Middle East this winter with his world-class turf sprinter Reef Runner.
Two years ago, the maiden Where’s My Ring won the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes, earning a start in the Kentucky Oaks where she finished 10th.
Next Saturday, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will attempt to win the Grade 3 Gazelle with the maiden Slow Kara, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of the multiple graded stakes winner Terra Promessa, who has a fourth and a second in two starts going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Bravaro, coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, will be equipped with blinkers when he runs in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
Bravaro won his first two starts against New York-breds, then came off a layoff to finish second to Nearly in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 31. In the Fountain of Youth, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. felt Bravaro was making a move at the three-furlong pole before flattening out. He finished 11 lengths behind Commandment.
Trainer Paddy Gallagher has been fined $2,500 by Santa Anita stewards for violations of two rules related to veterinary examinations involving a 2-year-old who sustained an injury in a workout in December 2024 and was later euthanized.
Juan Hernandez and Antonio Fresu, second and fifth in the jockey standings at Santa Anita through Thursday, will ride briefly at Keeneland next month.
Last spring, Hernandez won two races from nine mounts at Keeneland during a week Santa Anita did not conduct racing.
“We went last year and we did pretty good,” Hernandez said recently. “We’re trying to ride a couple of horses a day.
“It’s good racing and good horses and good competition. Hopefully I can get some decent mounts.”
May Day Ready, a three-time stakes winner and millionaire, is in training with Richard Mandella at Santa Anita with the goal of resuming her career later this spring.
On Friday at Santa Anita, May Day Ready worked a half-mile on the infield training track in 47.60 seconds, her fourth workout since late February.
“She’s five or six weeks from a race,” Mandella said.
