OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Four years ago, trainer Butch Reid won the Grade 3 Withers Stakes with Afleet Again, who upset four rivals at odds of 24-1.
Next Saturday, when the Withers is run for the 134th time, Reid will try to win it again with Honorable Judge, a full brother to Afleet Again.
“I don’t know if lightning can strike twice or not, but we’ll give it a try,” Reid said.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
NEW ORLEANS – A longtime fixture at the Fair Grounds, trainer Andy Leggio turned 80 on Jan. 15. Running a 20-horse stable, he’s still going strong. Skip the Pinot’s victory in the last race Thursday gave Leggio four wins at the meet and put him 11th in trainers’ earnings.
Leggio was 14 when he arrived on the Fair Grounds backstretch, going to work for trainer Odie Clelland. “I was cleaning stalls, walking horses, and he was teaching me how to gallop,” Leggio said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Thursday’s pick six returned $75,325 on a day in which the amount of new money in the pool reached $2,880,752.
There was a two-day pick six carryover of $419,541 into Thursday from Monday’s program.
The winners of Thursday’s pick six races were Zimmer ($11.20), Gutsy Ruler ($5.80), Awesome Prospect ($29), Only the Gold ($15), Miss Well Molded ($4.60), and Runaway Que ($5.20).
Tickets with five of those winners were worth $544.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux has six mounts Saturday, including horses in all five stakes for California-breds.
A former leading rider on this circuit, Desormeaux has been riding in Florida in recent weeks. He said earlier this month that he wanted “to test the waters” in California, where he has ridden occasionally in recent years for major stakes.
Los Alamitos opened its renovated racetrack for full training Tuesday, after a six-week project to expand the surface from five-eighths of a mile to a mile. The Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds based there for the year-round night races were the first to train on the surface.
Approximately 475 Thoroughbreds from Hollywood Park will be based there after Hollywood Park closes its barn area next week. Those horses are expected to begin arriving this weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The yearlong Golden State Series of stakes races for California-breds begins its third year Saturday with a merged California Cup and Sunshine Millions program of five stakes at Santa Anita.
The decision to link the two events is one of the biggest changes to this year’s series, which has 35 races and $5.3 million in prize money.
The $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic and Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup are the focal points of Saturday night’s richest card of the Sam Houston Race Park meet, but one of the supporting stakes, the $75,000 Champion Energy Services, will draw a good deal of attention due to the presence of 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Force Freeze.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Proven on turf and synthetic tracks, Aotearoa will make his first start on dirt in Saturday’s $250,000 California Cup Derby over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
The rich purse and a recent workout on dirt justify the risk, trainer Leonard Powell said Wednesday. Aotearoa worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds last Sunday.
“The dirt is a question, but the distance is right,” Powell said. “In the last two races, he’s run like a horse that relishes the distance.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The unbeaten 3-year-old stakes winners Midnight Hawk and Indianapolis are being pointed to graded stakes at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday.
Midnight Hawk, winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 11, is tentatively scheduled to run in the $200,000 Robert B. Lewis over 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 8.
Also scheduled for the Lewis is newly minted 2-year-old male champion Shared Belief.
“I think he’ll run there,” Baffert said. “I’ll know a week before, but that’s an option.”
Exit Stage Left made it three stakes victories in three career starts with a half-length win in the 1 1/16-mile California Derby last Saturday and has shown continued improvement. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and jockey Russell Baze stressed the gameness and competitiveness of the Noonmark colt.
“He’s a tough, little dude,” said Baze, who knows the colt well and was comfortable letting him run on the front end in the California Derby.
