HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Bob Baffert began winning races for Ed Allred in the 1970s. But not as a trainer.
“Out of high school, I tried to be a jockey,” Baffert said. “He put me on a couple of winners, threw me a bone. We’ve been friends for a long time.”
Fast forward to Saturday, and the men will team with Wynstock in the Southwest at Oaklawn Park. The horse, who also is co-owned by Jack Liebau, is a somewhat rare Thoroughbred runner for Allred.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It was 20 years ago this month that Smarty Jones won the Southwest Stakes and set off a life-changing sequence of events for both his connections and Oaklawn Park.
In a perfect storm, he swept the track’s 3-year-old series, went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and earned a $5 million bonus in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Oaklawn.
The 12 horses that trainer Jonathan Thomas brought to California this year was designed largely to take advantage of wintertime turf racing at Santa Anita.
The stable had its first winner of the year with Mirari in a maiden race on turf last Sunday, and can win its first stakes with Mouffy in Saturday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf.
Mouffy, a 5-year-old mare owned by George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable, will have her American graded stakes debut in the $100,000 Megahertz Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jody’s Pride, runner-up to Just F Y I in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, will make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes going one mile at Gulfstream Park on March 2.
Trainer Jorge Abreu said he was between running Jody’s Pride here or in the $200,000 Busher at Aqueduct the same day. He said after consulting with the owners and with the possibility of getting Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride, the decision was made to stay here.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fields for both the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes and listed Swale Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park will lose at least one starter as trainer Jose D’Angelo said Wednesday he plans to scratch his 3-year-olds from those races for other spots.
No More Time, who is entered in the Holy Bull, is going to run instead in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 10. Bentornato, the three-time stakes winner who was entered in the Swale, is being re-routed to the Grade 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby on Feb. 24.
Bellamore and Free Like a Girl have gone their separate ways for now after finishing a respective one-two in a rousing renewal of the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park.
Bellamore was a neck winner over millionaire Free Like a Girl and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 91. The start was Bellamore’s first of the year and first for Steve Asmussen, who trains her for Kaleem Shah.
“She’s on to Oaklawn and we’ll train her up to the Azeri,” Asmussen said Tuesday. “We’ll just see what we can do. I feel good about her.
Rillito Park, a fair track in Tucson that operates on weekends for several months of the year, is not likely to open this year for a live race meet due to a number of factors, according to the track’s general manager and local news reports.
After moving the bulk of its major stakes during the early spring and summer on this circuit to Saratoga for a one-week meet June 6-9, the New York Racing Association will offer 32 stakes worth $6.625 million at the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer session, it was announced Tuesday.
Due to the ongoing construction at Belmont Park, the spring/summer and fall meets typically held at Belmont are being conducted at Aqueduct in 2024 and likely 2025.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Witwatersrand, [pronounced vit-vaters-rond], is named for gold fields in South Africa. The 3-year-old filly will try to see if there is a pot of gold for her on dirt when she makes her first start on that surface in Saturday’s Grade 3, $125,000 Forward Gal Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
At 2, Witwatersrand, a daughter of Connect trained by Mark Casse, went 2 for 3 over Woodbine’s synthetic surface, including a victory in the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While Sierra Leone certainly earned his way onto the Triple Crown trail by rallying from last to finish second in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes last December, his trainer, Chad Brown, had another horse in that race he hasn’t given up on yet.
Happy with the way Domestic Product has trained this winter at Payson Park, Brown entered him in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park where he will take on Fierceness, the 2-year-old champion, in a field of eight.
