Red Outlaw won his first race on Cushion Track at Hollywood Park, his second race on Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields, and on Sunday won on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita, running his record to 3 for 3 when capturing the Baffle Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters.
Red Outlaw also had to survive a stewards’ inquiry into a series of bumps shared between he and runner-up Gangnam Guy in the stretch run. Red Outlaw crossed the wire best by a head. The stewards let the original result stand.
ARCADIA, Calif. – When jockey Joel Rosario was based in Southern California, one of his biggest supporters was trainer John Sadler. The band is back together, not quite as frequently, but still making hits.
With Rosario making a rare appearance at Santa Anita on Sunday, he and Sadler teamed to win the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes with Kobe’s Back, and on Monday, Sadler said Rosario had picked up the mount on Kristo for the Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 8 at Santa Anita.
Kristo worked six furlongs in 1:13 on Monday at Santa Anita.
Trainer Mike Pender was fined $2,500 by Santa Anita’s stewards after having two of his runners, Would You and Street Car, test for excessive amounts of the legal medication Phenylbutazone, commonly known as Butazolidin, in races at Hollywood Park on Dec. 1.
According to the ruling, these were the third and fourth violations of a similar manner for Pender in the past 365 days. The ruling went on to say that if Pender had another violation for a runner or a worker this calendar year, it is recommended his license “be suspended for a period of not less than seven days.”
Samantha Nicole, the 3-year-old full sister to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, finished second in her career debut Sunday at Fair Grounds.
The first foal from the mare Lotta Kim to race since Rachel Alexandra, Samantha Nicole went off as the 1-2 favorite in Sunday’s fourth race. Keyed up in the paddock, Samantha Nicole hit the gate as she broke and lunged at the start, spotting the leaders several lengths into the first turn, and the running position she took up – last in a five-horse field – turned especially disadvantageous when the early pace slowed to a crawl.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mike Maker said all systems are go for General a Rod, who’s expected to be part of a large and very competitive field for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. The $400,000 Fountain of Youth is the final major prep at Gulfstream Park for the meet’s marquee event, the $1 million Florida Derby, on March 29.
ARCADIA, Calif. – On the Backstreets has mastered turf sprints this winter at Santa Anita. She won her first two starts on grass, including Saturday’s $81,650 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the hillside turf course.
The win has trainer Peter Miller ready to try On the Backstreets around two turns in the coming months.
“The way she rates, I think we can stretch her out,” Miller said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Iotapa never set the pace in her first seven starts but always managed to finish in the top three. Along the way, she won the minor Railbird Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Hollywood Park last May and placed in four graded stakes.
The tactics changed for Saturday’s $200,250 Santa Maria Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita. Iotapa took the early lead and set the pace under jockey Joe Talamo. She proved impossible to catch, winning by 1 3/4 lengths over Let Faith Arise.
Due to the effects of Saturday’s winter storm, Sunday’s 10-race program at Aqueduct was canceled, the third straight card lost this week. Aqueduct has not raced since Monday.
It is the seventh full card of the inner-track meet lost due to weather, one more than last year but one fewer than in 2010-11, when eight full cards were canceled due to weather.
Tom Amoss put several stakes horses through timed workouts Saturday morning at Fair Grounds, including Risen Star hopeful Rise Up, who whizzed through a half-mile in a near-bullet 47.40 seconds.
Other prominent Amoss workers included Mylute, whose half-mile in 49.20 seconds was his first published racetrack work since he went to the sidelines following the Jim Dandy Stakes last July; and Delaunay, who went a half-mile in 48.60, his first drill since he won the Gaudin Stakes last month at Fair Grounds in his first race in about five months.
