ARCADIA, Calif. – The likelihood of an inopportune rainstorm has led Santa Anita to postpone one of its signature racing programs by a day.
The Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and three other graded stakes scheduled for Saturday instead will be run Sunday. The decision, announced Thursday, was not a surprise. Santa Anita officials spent much of the week forming contingency plans due to the pending storm.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Due to a gloomy forecast for rain Friday night through Saturday, Santa Anita officials are forming a contingency plan to postpone Saturday’s blockbuster card by a day and run the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and three other graded stakes on Sunday instead.
Nate Newby, Santa Anita’s vice president and general manager, said midday Wednesday that a decision on whether or not to postpone would be made early Thursday.
Northern California-based jockey Silvio Amador is in the midst of a 10-day suspension for being under the influence of alcohol earlier this year, according to a ruling published Feb. 18 by Golden Gate stewards.
The suspension began Monday and covers 10 calendar days through March 6.
In the ruling, Amador has been ordered to undergo regular testing for alcohol conducted by the California Horse Racing Board and “refrain from any alcohol-related violations” through the duration of his current license which expires in September 2025.
The good news regarding the chances of Dandy Man Shines in Saturday’s Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita is that the speedy Goliad is likely to set the pace in the $300,000 turf race.
The bad news is that a closer such as Dandy Man Shines will have an accomplished rival in Easter also racing from off the pace.
“There’s always something to worry about,” owner Tim Cohen said with a laugh on Wednesday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Castle Chaos will scratch from Saturday’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile and instead run in Saturday’s $150,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct.
Castle Chaos is coming out of a nose defeat to Tumbarumba in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper at Gulfstream on Jan. 27. Prior to that, he finished third, behind Hoist the Gold and Senor Buscador in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.
Castle Chaos had drawn the rail for the Gulfstream Park Mile.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Michael Yates will learn more about his improving 3-year-old Frankie’s Empire and his 3-year-old filly Fiona’s Magic when they run in graded stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Frankie’s Empire, who won the seven-furlong Swale Stakes in his first start for Yates, will take on Dornoch and Locked in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes while Fiona’s Magic, runner-up in the Grade 3 Forward Gal, takes on last year’s 2-year-old filly champion Just F Y I in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Saffie Joseph Jr. reported Wednesday that O’Connor, who shipped to California to compete in Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, took ill on the flight and will be forced to skip the race.
“The flight was delayed 10 hours, it became a real ordeal, and he was sick when he got off the plane,” Joseph said. “I’m not even going to enter him.
“We’ll just give him the time he needs to recuperate, bring him back home, and figure out what to do next from there.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Plans for Woodcourt, who ran fourth in the Rebel on Saturday after breaking from post 12, are to be determined, trainer Cipriano Contreras said Tuesday.
“I really don’t know what we’re going to do next,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Contreras said Woodcourt will be considered for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March 30, but also the $200,000 Hot Springs, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds here March 23.
Harr nears return
A brother act from Florida could invade Oaklawn for next month’s Racing Festival of the South.
Octane, a multiple stakes winner who shipped in to win the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback here Saturday, and Gatsby, his stakes-winning full brother, are being considered for some local races, said Brian Cohen, president of their breeder and owner, Arindel.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Last Samurai, a $2.2 million earner who won two-thirds of the handicap series last season at Oaklawn Park, is back on the work tab in Arkansas.
He is gearing up for a 6-year-old campaign, but there is not a specific target for his return, trainer Eddie Milligan Jr. said Tuesday.
“I worked him a half-mile last weekend and he handled it well,” Milligan said. “We’re moving forward.”
