OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Leah Gyarmati remains on the fence about running Jerome Stakes winner Noble Moon in the Wood Memorial.
On Sunday, Noble Moon worked a mile in 1:46.05 in company with Gyarmati’s Grade 1-winning filly Sweet Reason.
While Sweet Reason, who won an allowance race in her 3-year-old debut on March 7, is a definite for the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle on April 5, Gyarmati said, “I am not committing” Noble Moon to the Wood at this point.
Princess of Sylmar, the four-time Grade 1 winning 3-year-old filly of 2013, had her first local workout Monday morning, breezing a half-mile in 49.78 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
Princess of Sylmar, who has been based in south Florida for most of the winter, worked inside of stablemate Violet Hour. The two broke off together and went an opening quarter-mile in 24.30 seconds. Princes of Sylmar, under Annie Finney, was going the easier of the two in the stretch and galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.75 and six furlongs in 1:19.22.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – General a Rod turned down the backstretch shortly after the renovation break Sunday, making his way to the five-furlong marker to begin his final major prep for Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby. But as he reached the pole, the Fountain of Youth Stakes runner-up suddenly found himself with some unexpected company, as he was joined by a member of the Gamaliel Vazquez stable.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The eye-catching 6 1/4-length allowance victory by the New York-bred Effinex at Aqueduct on Sunday was special to Russell Cohen, the colt’s breeder, on several levels.
First, as a veterinarian for 27 years and a breeder for nearly as long, Cohen takes great pride in running horses in his stable without medication. Effinex, who is owned by the Tri-Bone Stables of Cohen’s mother, Bernice, does not run on Lasix, and Cohen said that except for one shot of Adequan, a medication that helps maintain cartilage, the horse has never been treated with anything.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – Susan Chu first became interested in horses through riding, which she still does, as does her 11-year-old son, Jerry. But a trip to the 2010 Kentucky Derby helped pique her interest in Thoroughbred racing, and she got the support of her husband, Charles, to get involved as more than a spectator.
Chu now has just a handful of runners, but what success she’s had. Last year, she had one of the most promising and precocious 3-year-olds in Super Ninety Nine, who won the Southwest Stakes and then was third in the Santa Anita Derby before he went to the sidelines.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Tire is on the verge of the major leap from a maiden race win in early March to a Grade 1 stakes in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
Trainer Mark Glatt said Sunday that Big Tire is deserving of a start in California’s top race for 3-year-olds after a breakthrough win in a one-mile maiden race on March 7, his sixth start.
The jump in class is worth a try, especially considering the distance, Glatt said.
FLORENCE, Ky. – We Miss Artie is scheduled to be flown back to south Florida on Tuesday and will not race again before the May 3 Kentucky Derby, for which the colt earned 50 eligibility points by virtue of his dramatic narrow victory Saturday in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park.
Owner Ken Ramsey said Sunday morning from Florida that he will let trainer Todd Pletcher decide when to send We Miss Artie back to Kentucky from the Palm Meadows training center to make final preparations for the Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer John Sadler paid tribute to Vagabond Shoes, who was euthanized on Saturday after suffering a cannon bone injury to his left hind leg earlier in the day in the $196,250 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita.
Vagabond Shoes was racing last in the field of five when he was pulled up by jockey Victor Espinoza. A 7-year-old gelding, Vagabond Shoes was euthanized shortly after being taken off the racetrack, according to track stewards.
“We’re shocked right now,” Sadler said. “We’re just stunned. Victor said he heard a pop on the backstretch.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said he believes Regent’s House is a stakes filly and will find out sooner than later if he’s right by running her in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle Stakes on April 5.
Regent’s House, a daughter of Street Cry out of the multiple champion mare Ashado, won her debut sprinting over the inner track on March 9 by 6 1/2 lengths. She ran six furlongs in 1:11.58 and earned a 75 Beyer Speed Figure.
CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome resumed workouts on Saturday at Los Alamitos, two weeks after winning his third consecutive stakes in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita and two weeks before a start in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby.
California Chrome worked a solo half-mile in 47.40 seconds under jockey Victor Espinoza, who did not urge California Chrome through the track’s stretch, which is just longer than a quarter-mile.
