No matter where Expensive Jet finishes in his debut in Thursday’s second race at Golden Gate Fields, trainer Cinda Mahorney will consider the day a success.
Mahorney is the daughter of jockey Bill Mahorney, one of Northern California’s top riders in the B.B. (Before Baze) era. He won more than 2,500 races before his career was cut short by injuries.
Cinda Mahorney, 42, always loved horses and wanted a career at the track, but her father always tried to dissuade her.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Awesome Baby, who won the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday, and stablemate Crushed Velvet, third as the favorite in the 6 1/2-furlong race, will take different paths this spring, trainer Bob Baffert said.
Awesome Baby will remain in sprints, while Crushed Velvet, who was making only her second start, will get a chance to stretch out and see if she’s an Oaks-quality filly.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jeranimo, spry as ever at age 8, bounced out of his victory in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita in good shape, leaving trainer Mike Pender contemplating where to run him next during this elongated, six-month meeting.
“He was just like his old self, like he didn’t run,” Pender said. “He dived into his feed tub, destroyed his hay net, and said thanks for the mile-and-an-eighth workout in 1:46.”
Jeranimo once used to stalk the leaders, but as he has aged, he’s become accustomed to dropping out of it and making one run.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jockeys come and they go, and Ronnie Allen Jr. just keeps on winning.
The jockey colony, which has been in a constant state of flux since near the beginning of the meeting, will change yet again this week when Jesus Castanon returns to Tampa Bay Downs.
A former leading rider here, Castanon will begin taking mounts here Friday, according to agent Donald Cespedes. Cespedes was the agent for Fernando De La Cruz, who went down in a spill on Dec. 27 after having won 23 races since the meeting started Dec. 4.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ria Antonia, winner via disqualification of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November, took the first significant step toward her 3-year-old debut by breezing three furlongs Sunday morning in 36.62 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
It was her first timed workout since the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup, a race in which she finished second by a nose but was elevated to first by the stewards, who felt she was interfered with in deep stretch by She’s a Tiger.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Leah Gyarmati plans to run Noble Moon twice more before hopefully making it to the Kentucky Derby on May 3. Though one of those starts will be the Grade 1 Wood Memorial here at Aqueduct on April 5, the other race - the next one - has not yet been determined.
Her initial thought immediately following Noble Moon’s two-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome was to wait for the Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes on March 1. However, Gyarmati said Sunday she may elect to run back in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 1 instead.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Egg Drop, who won her final three starts of 2013, all in graded stakes, will remain in training this year, according to Billy Koch, the founder of the Little Red Feather syndicate.
Egg Drop was nominated to the January horses of all ages sale at Keeneland next week, but will stay with trainer Mike Mitchell.
“We are pulling her out of the sale and running in 2014,” Koch said. “We’re looking forward to the new year.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Commissioner and Top Billing enhanced their status within the 3-year-old division here at Gulfstream Park after finishing a neck apart as the one-two finishers in a talent-laden 1 1/8-mile allowance Friday.
Making his first start since winning his maiden going the same distance at Saratoga more than four months earlier, Commissioner rallied from just off the pace before narrowly getting the best of Top Billing following a stretch-long battle. It gave jockey Jose Lezcano his fourth victory on the card.
Apprentice jockey Gonzalo Nicolas faces four to six weeks on the sidelines after suffering an injury to his lower back in a one-horse spill Thursday, according to his agent, Vince DeGregory.
Nicolas, who began riding in 2013 and has 25 wins, was unseated when Shand fell in early stretch of Thursday’s eighth race for maiden claimers over six furlongs. Nicolas was transported to a local hospital and released Thursday evening.
Shand was euthanized as a result of injuries suffered in the spill, trainer Peter Eurton said.
