Wed, 11/06/2013 - 14:05

Hollywood Park: New Year's Day eyes Kentucky Derby preps

Barbara D. Livingston
New Year's Day (right) wins the Breeders' Cup Juvenile over Havana.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - New Year’s Day, the winner of the BC Juvenile, will not race again this year, trainer Bob Baffert said.

“I’ll freshen him up,” Baffert said. “I want to have him ready for the classics.”

New Year’s Day won his stakes debut in the BC Juvenile, closing from eighth in a field of 13 to catch 5-2 favorite Havana in the final furlong. New Year’s Day won the race over 1 1/16 miles by 1 1/4 lengths. Owned by Gary and Mary West, New Year’s Day beat maidens Aug. 31 at Del Mar in his second start, having finished third there in his debut on Aug. 17.

Wed, 11/06/2013 - 14:04

Woodbine notes: Gonzalez stable enjoying strong year as it tops $2 million earnings mark again

Michael Burns
Midnight Aria, winner of the Queen's Plate Stakes (above) in July, soon will head to Ocala to continue her recuperation from a leg strain.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It’s been a solid season for the barn of trainer Nick Gonzalez, which recently surpassed the $2 million earnings mark for the sixth time in the past seven years.

“We didn’t really win as many races as we wanted to,” Gonzalez said in his office here Wednesday morning. “But you’ve got to be happy when you win a Queen’s Plate, with Midnight Aria, and watch River Seven finish second in the other two Triple Crown races.”

Wed, 11/06/2013 - 13:53

Hollywood Park: Game On Dude might take shot at Clark Handicap at Churchill

Debra A. Roma
Game On Dude faded to ninth in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He might race again this year, perhaps in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Game On Dude, ninth as the favorite in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last Saturday, may not be done racing this year.

Trainer Bob Baffert said earlier this week that Game On Dude will be considered for the $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29. The Grade 1 Clark is run over 1  1/8 miles on the main track.

“The Dude will let me know if he’s up for it,” Baffert said. “It’s a race of interest.”

Wed, 11/06/2013 - 13:03

Churchill Downs: Ramseys blanked at Breeders' Cup

Barbara D. Livingston
A third-place finish by Bobby's Kitten in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf was the best of six horses who ran last weekend for Ken and Sarah Ramsey at Santa Anita.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A few days after getting nada at the Breeders’ Cup, Ken Ramsey was still licking his wounds at his farm just outside of Lexington.

“It was kind of what like Caesar said over there in Rome,” said Ramsey. “‘Veni, vidi, non-vici – I came, I saw, and I got my ass kicked.”

Ramsey and his wife, Sarah, had more starters than any other owners on the two-day Breeders’ Cup program at Santa Anita last weekend, and the best any of their six horses could muster was a third-place finish by heavily favored Bobby’s Kitten in the Juvenile Turf.

Tue, 11/05/2013 - 14:28

Hollywood Park: Tiz Flirtatious possible for Matriarch

Benoit & Associates
Tiz Flirtatious (No. 3), under jockey Julien Leparoux, gets her first Grade 1 win in Saturday's Rodeo Drive Stakes.

Tiz Flirtatious, who was sixth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, is expected to stay in training in 2014, and could start in the $250,000 Matriarch Stakes at a mile on turf on Dec. 1.

Tiz Flirtatious won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita in September. In November 2012, Tiz Flirtatious was second in the Matriarch Stakes in her first start in a Grade 1.

Tue, 11/05/2013 - 14:05

Hollywood Park: Newly acquired Shared Belief targets Prevue

Barbara D. Livingston
The European-based Romantica will remain in training in the United States with Bill Mott.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Shared Belief, a Candy Ride gelding who won his debut at Golden Gate Fields on Oct. 19, was recently acquired by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer on behalf of a partnership, and will start in Sunday’s $100,000 Hollywood Prevue Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.

Shared Belief joined Hollendorfer's stable in late October, and has worked twice at Hollywood Park. Tuesday, Shared Belief worked six furlongs in 1:13.20.

Tue, 11/05/2013 - 13:37

Got Shades to get first shot on dirt in Lecomte at Fair Grounds

Barbara D. Livingston
Got Shades will be pointed to the Jan. 18 Lecomte at Fair Grounds.

Got Shades has made his mark on the grass as a multiple stakes winner, and he finished a troubled fifth in last weekend’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. But when he runs next, he will move to dirt for the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte at Fair Grounds, trainer Danny Pish said. That race is Jan. 18.

Tue, 11/05/2013 - 11:51

Golden Gate notes: She's a Tiger's Breeders' Cup DQ hard pill to swallow

Tom Keyser
She's a Tiger (right) crosses the finish line a nose in front of Ria Antonia in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, but was taken down and placed second for interference.

Excitement in Northern California was high when She’s a Tiger crossed the finish line a nose in front of Ria Antonia in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. She’s a Tiger, who trained early in her career and won her debut at Pleasanton, gave Golden Gate Fields simulcast bettors and her connections a thrill – until the inquiry sign began flashing.

The longer the sign flashed, the more her trainer, Jeff Bonde, and part-owner Allen Aldrich felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.

Mon, 11/04/2013 - 16:45

Aqueduct: McLaughlin making plans for Cairo Prince

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Cairo Prince successfully stretched out from six furlongs to a mile in the Nashua.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In the paddock before Cairo Prince made his debut Oct. 6 at Belmont Park, one of the colt’s owners asked trainer Kiaran McLaughlin if he had any horses he felt had the potential to make it to next year’s Kentucky Derby.

“This is our best one,” McLaughlin said. “He kind of looked at me surprised, and I said “And I’m not kidding.’ ”

Apparently, he wasn’t.

Cairo Prince backed up his 2 3/4-length victory that day with a visually impressive 2  1/2-length victory in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct.

Mon, 11/04/2013 - 15:34

Churchill Downs notes: Leparoux returns to Kentucky

Coady Photography/Keeneland
Jockey Julien Leparoux has three mounts on Wednesday and five mounts on Thursday at Churchill.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The most noteworthy thing about Wednesday’s races at Churchill Downs is not which horses are racing, but who is back riding there.

Julien Leparoux, who topped the Churchill Downs rider standings nine times from the spring of 2006 through the fall of 2011, has three mounts Wednesday, his first day back as a Churchill regular after relocating from the West Coast. He has the call on 7-2 shot Victory Island in race 2, 3-1 Place Card in race 6, and 12-1 outsider Solitary Life in race 8.