Noble Moon returned to the work tab Wednesday morning for the first time since he won the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 4, breezing three furlongs in 38.95 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tapiture will be a regular on Oaklawn Park’s road to the Kentucky Derby this spring, with the Grade 2 winner to launch his season Monday in the Southwest Stakes. The Grade 3, $300,000 race is the second stakes in the local series that continues with the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel on March 15 and the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 12.
Trainer Bob Baffert is considering jumping into the Louisiana Preview Day card on Feb. 22 at Fair Grounds and could have horses for both the Risen Star Stakes and the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, he said Wednesday.
Baffert could send Grade 1 winner Streaming for the Grade 3, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, while Hoppertunity, a maiden winner, could start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes.
“It’s not etched in stone yet, but I’m looking at it seriously,” Baffert said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Nashoba’s Gold, winner of a maiden race over 1 1/8 miles on turf in her debut last Saturday, will be pointed to the $150,000 Providencia Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on April 5, with a possible prep race in the interim, trainer Carla Gaines said Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Her versatile running style and the ability to handle a wet surface may give Dee Dee’s Comet an advantage in Friday’s featured second-level optional $30,000 claimer for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
Racing is scheduled to resume Friday after three dark days, but a winter storm that was to begin early Thursday morning and last until early Friday morning is likely to create a wet surface for Friday’s card, which include a $25,766 pick six carryover.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Martin Pedroza is expected to miss two months of racing after suffering a leg injury when he was unseated in a race Feb. 7, according to his agent, Richie Silverstein.
Pedroza remained hospitalized at nearby Arcadia Methodist Hospital on Wednesday, Silverstein said.
“They are waiting for the swelling to go down so they can re-X-ray the leg,” Silverstein said. “He’s just resting. He’s in pain.
“They’ve started the therapy with him walking with crutches. The prognosis remains eight weeks, give or take two.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - The undefeated 3-year-old Indianapolis will miss his scheduled graded-stakes debut in Sunday’s $200,000 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita after he coughed Wednesday and then was found to have mucus in his airway, trainer Bob Baffert said.
“I was going to work him and he coughed,” Baffert said. “He just came up with it. He coughed and we scoped him.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
The highly regarded 3-year-old Honor Code, who recently missed some training time with a minor injury, is scheduled to work on Wednesday morning at Gulfstream Park as he begins anew his preparation for his 2014 debut, trainer Shug McGaughey said Tuesday afternoon.
