ELMONT, N.Y. – With an eye toward next year, trainer Shug McGaughey is taking a conservative route for the rest of Honor Code’s 2-year-old campaign.
McGaughey said Thursday that Honor Code, the runner-up to Havana in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 5, will skip the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 and instead be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 30.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Garrett Gomez, who missed part of the summer while dealing with issues related to alcoholism, took off his mounts at Santa Anita on Thursday, and was later removed from his mounts for the rest of the racing week by track stewards, pending a hearing regarding his absence.
Gomez’s agent, Tony Matos, met with track stewards at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday to discuss the situation. Matos later that said Gomez sent him a text message on Thursday morning, stating, “Take me off the horses. I’m not going to ride for the time being.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Jebrica has had a productive year running at mostly Emerald Downs, where he won the $50,000 Budweiser and finished third three times. His best race for veteran trainer Jim Penney might have been in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile, where he finished a close fourth behind Herbie D.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Joshua Tree, winner of Woodbine’s Grade 1 Canadian International in 2010 and 2012 and second in the 2011 running, is under consideration for this year’s renewal, the Woodbine media department reported Thursday.
The $1 million Canadian International, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up, attracted 17 nominees, while 24 fillies and mares were listed for the same day’s E.P. Taylor Stakes, a Grade 1, $500,000 stakes at 1 1/4 miles on the grass.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jeranimo, winner of the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar in July, will be pre-entered for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and the $2 million BC Mile on turf.
Trainer Mike Pender said earlier this week that by pre-entering for both races “we can see what each one shapes up like.”
Owned by B.J. Wright and Robert LaPenta, Jeranimo, 7, finished ninth in his last two starts – the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 25 and the $250,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28. The Eddie Read Stakes in his most recent race on turf.
Trainer Christophe Clement entered a pair of contenders in both of Saturday’s graded turf stakes at Belmont Park, but given the forecast it is uncertain whether either will run.
In Za Approval, Clement would have the horse to beat in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Knickerbocker Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. But the forecast for rain Thursday and Friday and the likelihood of less than firm ground Saturday could result in him scratching the horse.
Already this year, Clement has scratched Za Approval from the Fourstardave and Bernard Baruch, a pair of Grade 2 events at Saratoga.
ELMONT, N.Y. – There is never a good time for a jockey to get injured, but the timing of Joel Rosario’s broken foot could not have been worse.
On Aug. 23, Rosario was injured when his mount, Casual Elegance, stumbled past the finish line, unseating him, resulting in a broken bone in his foot. The following day, Rosario was scheduled to ride Kentucky Derby winner Orb in the $1 million Travers at Saratoga. The day after that, he was named to ride Game On Dude, the leading older horse in the country, in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A field of nine 3-year-old fillies has passed the entry box for Saturday’s 30th running of the $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, the sixth and last Grade 1 race of the Keeneland fall meet.
Alterite, a French import who made her North American debut a winning one last month in the Grade 1 Garden City at Belmont Park, was assigned post 4 as the likely favorite in the 1 1/8-mile turf race. John Velazquez has a return mount for trainer Chad Brown.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three-year-olds Broadway Empire and Holy Lute will be pre-entered for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, run at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, their trainers said Tuesday.
Broadway Empire, trained by Robertino Diodoro, won the Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park on Sept. 29 for his third consecutive stakes win, Broadway Empire will make his first start against older horses in the BC Dirt Mile. He would be the first Breeders’ Cup starter for Diodoro and jockey Rico Walcott.
