OLDSMAR, Fla. – Bill Sienkewicz, who is stabled at Tampa Bay Downs for the first time this season, just completed his most successful year after making the transition from assistant starter to trainer. And it should be no great surprise that he was able to do so since a number of individuals who began as assistant starters have gone on to have standout careers training Thoroughbreds.
Bond Holder, winner of the Grade 1 FrontRunner and fourth in both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and CashCall Futurity in his last two starts, will make his 2014 debut in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 22, trainer Doug O’Neill said.
Bond Holder worked six furlongs in 1:14.80 on Sunday at Santa Anita.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
No matter the distance, if you put Bluesskiesnrainbows in the right spot, he’ll deliver.
Second in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon at 1 3/4 miles in November, Blueskiesnrainbows won the Grade 3 Native Diver at Hollywood Park last month going 1 1/8 miles, then shortened up to 1 1/16 miles Saturday and won the Grade 2 San Pasqual.
The win was the third in the last five starts for Blueskiesnrainbows, who has had his best success with jockey Martin Pedroza.
Unbridled Command, who won the 2012 Hollywood Derby, is back in training and now with trainer Peter Miller, after being sent last year to Great Britain, where he failed to run.
Unbridled Command has not raced since finishing third behind Point of Entry and Animal Kingdom in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap 11 months ago. He had recently been purchased by a partnership that had long-term designs on Australian racing, but, in the interim, was sent to the United Kingdom and was trained by Ed Dunlop.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Golden Production was taken for $40,000 the first time she showed up in a claiming race back in October, hasn’t been in a claiming race since, and likely won’t be for a while now, if ever, following a stakes victory Sunday at Santa Anita in the listed Paseana for older fillies and mares.
Golden Production ($20.80) went off as the second-longest shot in the six-horse field and showed impressive grit to turn back a late bid from Stanwyck and prevail by a head in the 1 1/16-mile race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A very fast track combined with a brisk tailwind down the backstretch to produce extremely fast workout times at Gulfstream Park on Monday.
Among the notable horses to work here Monday were the stakes-winning turf runner Bad Debt and Frac Daddy, who also has found a home on grass of late.
Bad Debt breezed an easy half-mile in 48.38 seconds while finishing under light urging before galloping out five-eighths in 1:01.80 in a typical maintenance breeze over the main track.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Midnight Hawk, who won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, impressed his trainer, Bob Baffert, by stretching out successfully around two turns to remain unbeaten in two starts.
“They went fast, and he still stayed in there,” Baffert said Sunday. “I was hoping he’d run like that, but, going two turns for the first time, you never know. He’s still a little green. It’s exciting. There’s a long way to go, but I like what I saw.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Horse of the Year finalist Will Take Charge was out early Sunday morning at Oaklawn Park, breezing five furlongs in a maintenance move that came in the first set of workers. He worked in 1:02 on a track rated “good,” with temperatures in the high 30s.
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.
