A portion of the purse of a $10,000 claiming race at Del Mar last August was ordered redistributed by Santa Anita stewards earlier this month, citing a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rule regarding excessive use of the whip.
Riders are allowed to strike a horse six times during a race. Jockey Armando Aguilar was cited for using his whip 11 times, according to a complaint filed by the California Horse Racing board on Aug. 28, four days after the race.
Jockey Antonio Fresu, who has not ridden since Dec. 28 because of injury, may return to riding at Santa Anita on the weekend of Jan. 30-Feb. 1, he said on Friday.
Fresu sustained a broken toe and severe cut on his left foot when his mount, Anmer Hall, struck the inside rail on the hillside turf course.
On Wednesday, Fresu underwent a procedure to have a stabilizing wire removed from the injured toe. The stabilizing wire was inserted to aid healing days after the incident.
Incredibolt, winner of the Grade 3 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs on Oct. 26, worked five furlongs in 1:02.30 at Palm Meadows on Friday morning for a scheduled start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 31.
Trainer Riley Mott, who actually caught Incredibolt slightly faster (1:01.80), said his horse tracked a stablemate, the unraced maiden Wine Country, and finished on even terms. It was Incredibolt’s sixth work since Mott brought him down here following a brief respite at Pin Oak Stud.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced that Laurel Park will cancel its 10-race Saturday card due to “expected freezing temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic region."
Laurel’s Saturday card did not feature any stakes races, with two allowances slated to serve as co-features. The card will be brought back in its entirety on Friday, Jan. 30.
The connections of Touchuponastar, the standout Louisiana-bred, passed on the Pegasus World Cup and will focus instead on the $150,000 Premier Night Championship on Feb. 7 at Delta Downs.
Touchuponastar has won that race three years in a row, and the last two years moved on to contest the New Orleans Classic at Fair Grounds, which he won last March. But hands-on owner Jake Delhomme this week did not commit to a schedule beyond the Delta start next month.
Chip Honcho, despite finishing fourth in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 17, will continue down the road to the Louisiana Derby and make his next start Feb. 14 in the Risen Star, trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Winner of the Gun Runner in December, Chip Honcho broke poorly from post 10 in the Lecomte, got caught four wide on the first turn, failed to settle after turning onto the backstretch, raced wide again on the far turn, and still lost by just 1 3/4 lengths.
Peter Eurton was born and raised in Southern California, began training there in 1989, has always based the bulk of his stable there, and remains committed to racing there, wobbly as things have become there.
“I want to keep it going,” Eurton said Thursday, reached by phone in – California. “I don’t want to see it go.”
The New York Racing Association announced that the Saturday card at Aqueduct, which included the $135,000 Interborough Stakes, will be canceled due to “arctic temperatures and sub-zero wind chill values,” per a press release.
The Interborough will be brought back on Friday, Feb. 6. New entries for the race will be taken on Saturday, Jan. 31. NYRA is still considering options for bringing back other races on the nine-race card at some point later in the meet.
Linda Rice’s domination of Aqueduct’s winter meet hit a crescendo Thursday when she won five races on the eight-race card, with her trainees finishing first and second in two of those events.
Rice, who did not have runners in the other three races on the card, was owner or co-owner of four of those winners.
It was the second time Rice won five races on a single Aqueduct card. On April 4, 2024, Rice went 5 for 5 there.
Jockeys Umberto Rispoli, the current leader at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, and Mirco Demuro, tied for sixth in the standings through Monday, are riding out of state on Saturday.
Rispoli is booked on five mounts at Santa Anita on Friday and has three stakes mounts for trainer Phil D’Amato on the Pegasus World Cup program at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, including Unconquerable Keen in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint. Unconquerable Keen won the Stormy Liberal Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar in his last start on Nov. 30.
