OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There is never a good time for a trainer to serve a suspension, but with a Kentucky Derby contender in his barn, the timing couldn’t be worse for Rudy Rodriguez.
Beginning Saturday, Rodriguez will be gone for 20 days after reaching an agreement with the New York Gaming Commission on a suspension for two positives accrued last year for flunixin, an anti-inflammatory sold under the name Banamine.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – My Miss Aurelia’s path toward a return trip to the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic gets started Saturday at Oaklawn Park. The champion is part of a seven-horse field for the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri, which will be her first start of the year following a 3-year-old season in which she finished second to Royal Delta in the Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – World traveler Dale Romans was back in south Florida on Thursday after spending the previous weekend in Dubai and the early part of this week looking for future stars at the Ocala sales. His return home will be a short one, however, as Romans will return to Dubai next week to prepare Little Mike and Dullahan for the Dubai World Cup card on March 30.
Jockey Joy Scott, who suffered a compound fracture to her right femur during a training accident on Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, has yet to have surgery scheduled, according to her son, Jesse Sanchez.
Scott has been at Huntington Memorial Hospital in nearby Pasadena, Calif., since the accident. According to trainer Eric Guillot, who trains the horse Scott was riding when she was injured, Scott has been battling an infection, and until that subsides, doctors do not want to operate.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Chad Brown, who has a seemingly endless supply of talented turf horses in his barn, will hold the upper hand Saturday at Gulfstream Park when he sends out top contenders Samitar and Pianist against a very strong field in the $150,000 Honey Fox. The Grade 2 Honey Fox will be decided at one mile on the grass.
ARCADIA, Calif. – When he gets into the starting gate, Slim Shadey will look to back out, stir uncomfortably, or even sit down. It took Gary Stevens to make the real Slim Shadey stand up.
Stevens was aboard Slim Shadey for the first time last out in the San Marcos Stakes, and they took their 11 rivals on a merry chase over the 1 1/4 miles. On Saturday at Santa Anita, they will try to stretch out to 1 1/2 miles in the Grade 2, $150,000 San Luis Rey Stakes, which drew eight other long-distance grass runners.
ARCADIA, Calif. – She ran the best race of her life when she was finally moved to the dirt last time, and though favoritism in the Grade 1, $300,000 Santa Margarita Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita could fall any number of ways, when you get right down to it, who doesn’t like More Chocolate?
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher’s bevy of talented 3-year-olds isn’t restricted to the male division.
Already loaded with stakes-winning 3-year-old fillies Dreaming of Julia, Unlimited Budget, and Kauai Katie, Pletcher may have another fleet filly in Highestmaintenance, who makes her stakes debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Cicada at Aqueduct.
The Cicada, a six-furlong race which lost its Grade 3 status from a year ago, drew a field of seven, though trainer Tony Dutrow said Thursday that Disco Barbie is unlikely to run after having developed an abscess under her chin.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Super Ninety Nine has been unbeatable since moving to two turns, and his trainer, Bob Baffert, has been nearly as effective with his starters at Oaklawn Park. On Saturday, Super Ninety Nine will be heavily favored to give Baffert his fourth consecutive win in the Rebel.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Always in a Tiz, who had been at Oaklawn preparing for the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel, did not enter Saturday’s race because he was not training to the satisfaction of his connections, said Anthony Bonomo Jr., general manager for the horse’s owners, MeB Racing Stables and Brooklyn Boyz Stables.
