Northern California basked in the Eclipse Awards spotlight Saturday, when Shared Belief and She’s a Tiger were honored as racing’s top 2-year-olds of 2013. Both runners got their starts in Northern California with early workouts as well as their racing debuts.
And impressive debuts they were.
When Lemons Forever won the 2006 Kentucky Oaks for trainer Dallas Stewart, she was a 47-1 shot making only her second start in a stakes races. A paceless, one-run closer, Lemons Forever needed the right circumstances to score a big win. In fact, after her Oaks upset, she lost eight straight starts over the course of a year before finally breaking through in a third-level allowance, the only other race Lemons Forever would win before she was retired to be a broodmare.
Unusual Way, who dominated the inaugural $300,000 Zia Park Oaks, is one of eight fillies and mares set to start in the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston Race Park. Entries for Saturday night’s race were taken Tuesday.
The Houston Ladies Classic will anchor a card of four stakes that includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup. Together, the races are worth $725,000, making the program the richest in Texas for Thoroughbreds.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tanzanite Cat, Walt, and Coastline, who finished 1-2-3 in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park on Monday, are all being pointed to the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest on Feb. 17, their trainers said Tuesday. The 1 1/16-mile race is the second 3-year-old prep on the local road to the Arkansas Derby.
The series was off to a rousing start Monday, when Tanzanite Cat and Walt traded the lead early in the one-mile Smarty Jones and then battled into the stretch. Tanzanite Cat prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths in his first start against winners, and first at two turns.
Two horses who tested positive for equine herpesvirus at trainer Tim Yakteen’s Santa Anita barn in recent weeks have shown improvement, Yakteen said earlier this week.
Santa Fe Belle, diagnosed Jan. 10, is being treated at a clinic in San Diego County.
“She keeps improving,” Yakteen said.
Easy Ten remains under isolation at the end of Yakteen’s shed row, away from other horses in the barn.
“He’s bright and he’s alert,” Yakteen said.
Indianapolis will race around two turns in his next start after an easy win in his stakes debut in Monday’s San Pedro Stakes over six furlongs.
Indianapolis won the San Pedro by 4 1/4 lengths after stalking pacesetter Rockin Home for the first three furlongs. Owned by Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith, Indianapolis was timed in 1:08.80.
Trainer Bob Baffert considers Indianapolis to be a leading candidate for the Triple Crown.
She’s a Tiger, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2013, is nearing a return to trainer Jeff Bonde’s Southern California stable.
Bonde said earlier this week that he expects She’s a Tiger to be shipped from a training center in Washington to Santa Anita at the “end of the week.”
She’s a Tiger has not raced since finishing first in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. She was disqualified and placed second behind Ria Antonia for causing interference in the stretch. Ria Antonia finished a nose behind She’s a Tiger in the race.
HALLANDALE BEACH,Fla. –The post position draw for Saturday’s Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park elicited mixed reactions from the connections of several of the leading contenders set to compete in the first major 3-year-old test of the meet, including likely favorite Cairo Prince and the undefeated Coup de Grace.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Spellbound won her first stakes in Sunday’s Grade 2 La Canada Stakes for 4-year-old fillies at Santa Anita. She can win her first Grade 1 in the $350,000 Santa Margarita Stakes on the same track March 15.
Trainer Richard Mandella said Monday that Spellbound is unlikely to race again until the Santa Margarita, which is run over 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares. The Santa Margarita is considered the championship race for older fillies and mares on dirt at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Sweet Reason, the Grade 1 Spinaway winner, worked a half-mile in 48.95 seconds at Belmont on Monday in company with a 4-year-old maiden New York-bred gelding, Felix.
Sweet Reason began the move about three-quarters of a length behind Felix and moved away from her workmate in the stretch, getting her final quarter in 24.23 seconds.
It was Sweet Reason’s third work since returning to training following a break after her fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. It was her first in company.
