OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Charlton Baker has several options for Twenty Four Mamba following back-to-back allowance wins at Aqueduct in which he earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure each time.
Baker is considering another allowance spot for which Twenty Four Mamba is eligible at Aqueduct on Feb. 9; the Grade 3, $250,000 General George at Laurel Park on Feb. 19; or he could wait for the Grade 3, $175,000 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct on March 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Drum Roll Please, who won the Jerome Stakes by 3 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct on Jan. 6, is off the Triple Crown trail after coming out of a Friday morning workout at Belmont Park with an injury, owner Al Gold said Friday afternoon.
Gold said following the in-company workout, which was timed in 49.55 seconds for a half-mile, Drum Roll Please was off in a hind leg and X-rays showed an apical medial sesamoid fracture of his left hind ankle. Gold said Drum Roll Please will have surgery, likely in Maryland next week, and will be sidelined until the summer.
For Turf Paradise and its horsemen, the last eight months have been a roller-coaster ride.
The kind that makes you queasy, relieved to just get off.
Just after the close of last year’s meet in May, track owner Jerry Simms announced that he was getting out, and Turf would be closed. A potential buyer emerged, but then backed out after the partnership couldn’t get favorable legislation passed.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park has moved the date of the Grade 3, $800,000 Southwest Stakes to Feb. 3 because ongoing freezing temperatures that have already led to the loss of four races dates and five days of training. The track announced the new date for the race and some of its other stakes on Thursday.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has canceled live racing for Friday, Saturday and Sunday because of a winter storm system that has gripped the region since Sunday, the track announced on Wednesday.
Sam Houston Race Park and Louisiana Downs also have canceled recent race dates during the patch of winter weather. Those tracks, and Delta Downs, have lost some training time, too, and Oaklawn announced Wednesday there would be no training until further notice.
Oaklawn made the decision to cancel the upcoming raceweek just before 2 p.m. Central on Wednesday.
Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux plans to resume riding at Santa Anita on Saturday after a break of more than two weeks, he said on Wednesday.
Desormeaux, 53, worked a horse last weekend at Santa Anita after missing time earlier this month because of illness.
“I don’t know what this is,” he said. “It’s not the flu, it’s not Covid - I’ve tested myself several times.
“I’ve been under the weather. I was bed ridden for eight days. I’m never sick. This one got me.
“Hopefully, Saturday will be my return.”
Reid France, who has ranked among the leading trainers in Northern California in recent years, had a memorable first career win at Santa Anita on Monday.
Thirsty Thursday, a 28-1 outsider, rallied between horses to win an allowance race for California-bred 3-year-olds at six furlongs on turf.
“That was fun,” France said on Wednesday.
Ahead of a particularly frigid blast of cold air that is set to hit frozen Kentucky later this week, Turfway Park has canceled its live racing programs for Friday and Saturday nights.
The Wednesday and Thursday programs on the Tapeta surface at the Florence, Ky., track will proceed as scheduled. Post time is 5:55 p.m. Eastern each night, with a low temperature of 20 degrees forecast for Wednesday and 23 degrees on Thursday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Stakes winner Just Steel will remove blinkers for the Southwest, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday. The horse is coming off a runner-up finish in the Smarty Jones, a race in which he tracked the pace, took the lead, and was overtaken in the later stages by the stretch-running Catching Freedom.
Just Steel came into the Smarty Jones off a win in the Ed Brown Stakes at Churchill Downs.
“I’m going to take the blinkers off,” Lukas said. “I just think he doesn’t need them. They weren’t very big – he had a small cup on them. We’ll make the change.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Cipriano Contreras and his nephew, jockey Emmanuel Esquivel, are off to a fast start at Oaklawn.
“We got lucky a couple of horses ran okay early in the meet,” Contreras said. “Sometimes you get a good start. Sometimes you end up doing okay. Sometimes nothing goes your way. When you win a race, you better have a good dinner. It might be a good while before you get a good dinner again.”
From all accounts, both men are eating well.
