Sahara Sky, winner of the Met Mile in May, has returned to training at Betfair Hollywood Park after a lengthy layoff and should be set to race again during the Santa Anita meeting, according to Dan Ward, assistant to Sahara Sky’s trainer and co-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer.
Sahara Sky had a productive first half of the year. In addition to winning the Met Mile, he won the Grade 2 Palos Verdes and the San Carlos at Santa Anita, and was second in the Grade 1 Carter at Aqueduct.
Untapable, a disappointing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and Unbridled’s Note, a deceptively good fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, both are pointing to stakes races here the weekend of Dec. 7-8, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday.
Untapable will try to rebound in the Grade 1, $500,000 Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 7, while Unbridled’s Note is headed to the $100,000 Hollywood Turf Express on Dec. 8, Asmussen said.
Both worked five furlongs at Santa Anita on Monday, with Untapable timed in 1:01.20, and Unbridled’s Note in 1:02.20.
The prospective field for the Cigar Mile Handicap continues to grow day by day, and if all who have expressed interest make it to the starting gate Nov. 30, New York’s final Grade 1 race of 2013 could be the race of the year as well.
The Cigar Mile’s base purse recently was raised to $500,000, in addition to incentives for Grade 1 winners, who run for the winner’s share of a $750,000 purse, and Breeders’ Cup winners, who run for the winner’s share of a $1 million purse.
A year after winning the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot with Goldencents, trainer Doug O’Neill will be back in Vinton, La., on Saturday with Rum Point. The horse was one of 10 entered in the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds that was drawn Tuesday.
The field includes Coastline, the winner of the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs who was installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite; Rise Up, the 3-1 second choice off his win in the local prep, the $200,000 Jean Lafitte; and Casiguapo, runner-up in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A six-furlong work in 1:12.60 at Santa Anita on Sunday morning left Game On Dude “right on schedule for the Clark,” according to trainer Bob Baffert.
Game On Dude was ninth last time out in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which ended a six-race win streak. But he came out of the race so well that Baffert said he will be set for the Clark, a Grade 1, $500,000 race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29. Regular rider Mike Smith has the mount.
Trainer Steve Specht faced a difficult decision with the talented 3-year-old filly Marks Mine last weekend.
He did not want to run her against older males, so he didn’t even nominate her to the Oakland Stakes run at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday. He nominated her to Sunday’s 7 1/2-furlong, $100,000 Cat’s Cradle at Betfair Hollywood Park, but chose to run her that day in a one-mile turf allowance at Golden Gate Fields that was loaded with stakes-quality runners and probably was tougher than the Cat’s Cradle.
Trainer Donnie Von Hemel will send out two capable starters in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile race that will have its inaugural running Sunday.
Gold Medal Dancer and I Am Miss Brown are making the trip from Remington Park in Oklahoma City to Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., in part because the race is a rare late-in-the-year opportunity to run against 3-year-olds only, Von Hemel said.
Trainer Mark Casse will attack Saturday’s $2.2 million Delta Downs Jackpot card with starters in the three major races among the day’s eight stakes. Casse has Coastline for the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot; Appreciating and Tepin for the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess; and Uncaptured for the $150,000 Delta Mile.
The Jackpot card will have an afternoon first post of 1:15 Central. The fields for the races were to be drawn Tuesday. Delta plans to offer a $200,000-guaranteed pick four that will include the Princess and Jackpot.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The rapidly improving Warren’s Veneda is set for the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes in late December at Santa Anita following her victory against older California-bred females in the Cat’s Cradle Handicap on Sunday.
The win was her fifth in 10 starts. She is 4 for 6 in races on dirt and synthetic surfaces and is 2 for 2 at Hollywood Park. She was a romping winner going a mile in a second-level allowance field in her only try at Santa Anita.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Arethusa earned a start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 7 with a powerful victory Saturday in the Sharp Cat Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. It was the first victory for Arethusa after three losses, all in maiden races.
Those maiden races, though, were solid efforts behind Be Proud and Georgia, who were the top two choices in the Sharp Cat. That, along with the small field, prompted trainer Eoin Harty and owner Darley Stable to give the 1 1/16-mile Sharp Cat a try.
