HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Invitations will be released Wednesday for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and there is a chance the top three finishers from last Saturday’s Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday may not only be on that list but could meet again in the marquee race of the 2023-24 Championship meet on Jan. 27.
Jockey Luis Quinonez hit a milestone of 4,000 wins on Friday, when he guided Izeonpoint to a 22-1 upset in the fifth race at Oaklawn Park. The mare returned $47.40.
Quinonez is a 56-year-old native of Mexico who won the first race of his career on May 10, 1989, at Canterbury Park. The milestone win Friday came in last-to-first fashion, with Quinonez riding in the $7,500 claiming sprint for Martin Guzman and trainer Renay Borel.
“My daughter told me you can’t quit until you get 4,000,” Quinonez joked. “I feel good. The main thing is, I still enjoy doing it.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Midnight Stroll, the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks winner of 2022, suffered an apparent cardiovascular event that caused an instant death at the end of a gallop over the Belmont Park training track on Wednesday, trainer John Terranova said.
Terranova was training Midnight Stroll to a possible start in the Inside Information Stakes on Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park.
“That filly was absolutely blossoming,” Terranova said. “It’s a big blow. That was the queen of the barn. I feel bad for everybody in the barn and all her owners.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With his focus being on races from April to November, trainer David Donk is somewhat in limbo with his filly Fingal’s Cave, who came off a 14-month layoff to win Thursday’s $100,000 Bay Ridge Stakes for New York-bred females at Aqueduct.
Donk said he will point Fingal’s Cave to open-company stakes. Races such as the Grade 1, $600,000 Madison on April 6 at Keeneland or the Ruffian, a one-mile stakes likely to be run in early or mid-May at Aqueduct, are somewhat intriguing to him.
Where and when Fingal’s Cave might run before then is still unsettled.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he has already won around two turns, Regalo will cut back to a one-turn mile when he starts in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes on Jan. 6 at Aqueduct.
The Jerome is the first of four races for 3-year-olds on this circuit to be run between January and April that offer qualifying points to the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
Regalo, a son of Maximus Mischief trained by Brittany Russell, won a seven-furlong maiden race in his second career start on Oct. 26 at Laurel and then came back to win a 1 1/16-mile first-level allowance race by 4 1/2 lengths on Dec. 9.
Trainer Richard Baltas, who completed a one-year suspension earlier this month for violations related to the administration of raceday supplements in the spring of 2022, will have his first starter since July 2022 at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Baltas, who is in the process of reforming his stable, runs Flavius and Hurricane Cloud in the first race, at a mile on turf for $40,000 claimers.
“It’s the first time I’ve had a few starters in a while,” Baltas said on Thursday. “It feels good to be back and it feels right.”
Back to Ohio will be heading back to Ohio at some point. She made a rare start outside of the Ohio-bred ranks on Dec. 16 at Oaklawn and won a two-other-than allowance for fillies and mares by more than two lengths. With the win, the 3-year-old filly by Midshipman improved her record to 9 for 10.
“How about that?” trainer Larry Rivelli said. “What a horse. She’s unbelievable. She’s just a picture of consistency.
Magic Grant, who won his maiden in the Clever Trevor at Remington Park before running a close third in the track’s $300,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 15, is being pointed toward the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn, trainer Eddie Milligan Jr. said Thursday.
The Grade 3, $800,000 race is Jan. 27. It carries points for the Kentucky Derby.
Magic Grant earned three points for his effort in the Springboard Mile, a race in which he closed for third. He finished two lengths behind winner Otto the Conqueror.
The undefeated Miss Code West will likely launch her 3-year-old season in a Kentucky Oaks points race at either Oaklawn Park or Sunland Park.
She’s wrapped up a 2-year-old campaign in which she won all four of her starts, capped by the Trapeze on Dec. 15 at Remington Park. It was the third consecutive stakes win for the filly – and her second at a mile. A few days later, Miss Code West was voted Remington’s horse of the meet for owners Jeff and Julie Puryear and trainer Kevin Scholl.
There is a rare carryover of $59,767 in the 50-cent late pick five at Golden Gate Fields on Friday.
On Monday’s opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting, the bet proved too tricky. There were no winning favorites in the sequence. Surprise wins by Gabby Hayes ($18.80) in the seventh race and Jaime’s Commitment ($24.20) in the ninth race were tough to isolate.
