ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, the unbeaten winner of the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity and a finalist for the Eclipse Award as champion male 2-year-old, had a scheduled workout for this weekend postponed after suffering a cut to his right front hoof, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Sunday morning at Santa Anita.
The injury, commonly known as a “grabbed quarter,” is minor, said Hollendorfer, who said he decided the prudent approach was to merely wait it out.
Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man completed preparations for his 2014 debut next week in the Sunshine Millions Classic by breezing a sharp half-mile in 47.97 seconds Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Mucho Macho Man completed his final quarter-mile in 23.89 into a pretty stiff headwind before galloping out five-eighths in 1:00.57 in a second straight impressive-looking work.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer John Sadler was hoping to take the next step on the Kentucky Derby trail Saturday afternoon with Kristo in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes, but early Saturday morning at Santa Anita, he was polishing his other top 3-year-old prospects, Candy Boy and Kobe’s Back, who both worked in advance of scheduled stakes starts next month.
Aqueduct canceled its nine-race card Saturday due to heavy fog, and Laurel Park canceled its nine-race card due to problems with its track caused by changing weather. There were no stakes races on either card.
Racing at Aqueduct was scheduled to resume with Sunday's nine-race card beginning at 12:25 p.m. Eastern. The featured race is the $100,000 Ruthless Stakes, a six-furlong test for 3-year-old fillies.
Laurel and Pimlico will be open for simulcasting Saturday. Live racing at Laurel is scheduled to resume Wednesday at 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park announced Friday that it has moved its two Grade 1 races for older horses, the Donn Handicap and Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap, from Saturday, Feb. 8 to Sunday, Feb. 9 to help kick off the Jockey Club Tour on Fox television series. The races will air on Fox Sports 1.
The Donn and Gulfstream Park Turf handicaps will now join the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie on the Feb. 9 card. The Feb. 8 program will still offer the Grade 3 Suwannee River and Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kathy Ritvo made it official early Friday afternoon when she confirmed that Gulfstream Park’s Sunshine Millions Classic will be the starting point for Mucho Macho Man’s 2014 campaign. The Sunshine Millions Classic will be decided at 1 1/8 miles as the marquee event on the $1.3 million Sunshine Millions card Jan. 18.
Mucho Macho Man, who has not started since winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the top older male of 2013. The Eclipse ceremonies will be held at Gulfstream several hours after the Sunshine Classic.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – On Fire Baby will return to the Oaklawn Park stable of trainer Gary Hartlage in the very near future, with the objective a defense of her title in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap.
“In two to three weeks, she’ll be here,” said Hartlage, who trains On Fire Baby for her breeder, Anita Cauley. “Our goal is to make the Azeri and the Apple Blossom.”
The Azeri, which has been upgraded from a Grade 3 to Grade 2 and boosted in value from $150,000 to $200,000, will be run at Oaklawn on March 5. The Apple Blossom is April 11.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – This has been a pretty good week for apprentice jockey Taylor Rice.
On Monday, her alma mater, Florida State University, won the national championship in college football.
Since then, Rice has made a couple of trips to the Aqueduct winner’s circle as she tries to make an imprint on the New York Racing Association circuit.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The field for the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 25, the first major test for Kentucky Derby hopefuls here this winter, continues to take shape, with one of the starters likely to be Conquest Titan, a son of Birdstone who closed his 2-year-old campaign with an eye-catching last-to-first allowance win at Churchill Downs.
Fair Grounds continues to be plagued by problems with its turf course, a situation that came to a chaotic head during the Thursday race card.
Though there has been no significant rainfall at Fair Grounds since Dec. 30, the turf was used for only two races last weekend, on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5. Fair Grounds initially planned to use the course as scheduled on Sunday, Jan. 5, but after one race, riders expressed concern with horses slipping on the far turn, and grass racing on a course termed yielding was abandoned.
