INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Friday could be a milestone day for top jockey Rafael Bejarano at Betfair Hollywood Park – if he does not win four races Thursday.
Bejarano, 30, entered the racing week at Hollywood Park on Thursday with 2,996 career wins. He had five mounts Thursday, leaving him with an excellent chance of reaching the 3,000th win of his career sometime this week.
ELMONT, N.Y. – When Miss Valentine left New York for south Florida last December, trainer Christophe Clement had designs on trying the New York-bred daughter of Afleet Alex in an open company stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Unsatisfied with how Miss Valentine trained when she first arrived at Payson Park, Clement opted to scrap those plans and give Miss Valentine a break.
Friday night’s featured eighth race at Evangeline Downs drew a field of six sprinters slated to go six furlongs. The second-level optional $20,000 claimer carries a $26,000 purse.
El Vino, no worse than second in four starts since relocating from the West Coast late last year, could rule a slight favorite. He comes in off a pair of victories at Sam Houston, the latest while running for a $35,000 claiming price.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Larry Jones wants to keep his standout distaffers separated, but he’s having a bit of a hard time with it.
Joyful Victory will run later this month in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park, and while Jones said he likely will save Believe You Can for the June 15 Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill Downs, he has not ruled out a run in the Belmont race for her, too.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It was only after Half Strike lost his first two career starts in 2012 that trainer Richard Mandella decided to drop the well-bred ridgling into a $50,000 claiming race for maidens at Santa Anita last October.
The maiden claimer was not the sort of race that Mandella or owners Alain and Gerard Wertheimer envisioned for Half Strike, who is by Smart Strike out of Halfbridled, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2003.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has named Mike Smith to ride Will Take Charge and Julien Leparoux on Titletown Five for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 18.
Smith, who rode Palace Malice in the Kentucky Derby, will replace Jon Court, who had been aboard Will Take Charge in six of his eight starts. Will Take Charge finished eighth in the Derby after having to check at the three-sixteenths pole behind a tiring Verrazano.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – The summer of 2013 promises to be a busy one for trainer Stanley Roberts. A long-time Louisiana Downs regular, Roberts brought in a string of 45 for the 84-day meet that began last weekend, a large number even by his standards.
“It’s more than we had last year,” said Roberts as he reflected on a 2012 season that saw him finish third in the trainer standings behind the equally prolific barns of Tony Richey and Joey Foster. His 29 wins from 137 starters produced a solid success rate of 21 percent.
PHOENIX – Turf Paradise closed out its 2012-2013 meet with gains in handle and some familiar names filling the top spots on the jockey and trainer lists.
Track officials reported that the Phoenix track concluded its 57th meet with total all-sources handle of $266,206,903, up 4 percent from the 2011-2012 meet, despite losing six cards to inclement weather. The meet was originally slated for 156 days and ended up with 150. Out-of-state handle was up 8 percent, while in-state handle was up 1 percent.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Uncaptured, Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion 2-year-old male of 2012, is off the Queen’s Plate trail.
Trained by Mark Casse for owner John Oxley, Uncaptured finished second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by a closing Pyrite Mountain, as the odds-on favorite under jockey Patrick Husbands here in last Sunday’s 1 1/16-mile Wando Stakes.
Uncaptured’s only other local defeat came in last fall’s 1 1/16-mile Grey Stakes, after he had won his first four starts, including three stakes at distances ranging from 4 1/2 to seven furlongs.
