NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Todd Pletcher will be sending Unlimited Budget from Florida for the Feb. 23 Rachel Alexandra, a mile and a sixteenth race for 3-year-old fillies which serves as the final local two-turn stakes prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks. She will be racing for the first time since leading all the way to win the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle by 1 1/4 lengths on Nov. 24 at Aqueduct in her second start.
In her debut 15 days earlier, she won a mile race at Aqueduct by 9 1/2 lengths.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stephanoatsee and Handsome Mike, second and fourth in the Grade 2 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds Feb. 2, will start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 2, their respective trainers said.
Stephanoatsee, trained by Maryland-based Graham Motion, has remained in California since the Strub. A winner of 3 of 9 starts and $253,000 for My Meadowview Farm, Stephanoatsee will race at 1 1/4 miles for the first time in the Big Cap, the richest race of the meeting for older horses.
NEW ORLEANS – Five invaders – from Florida, California, and points in between – are expected for the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 23.
As of Thursday, the racing office considered 12 horses possible for the 1 1/16-mile race, the final two-turn stakes prep for the Louisiana Derby. Entries will be taken Monday.
Remsen runner-up Normandy Invasion, trained by Chad Brown, and Palace Malice, who will be making his stakes debut for trainer Todd Pletcher, will be coming from Palm Meadows in Florida. Each of those colts has raced three times.
NEW ORLEANS – Graydar and Bourbon Courage, who ran one-two in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 9 at Gulfstream Park, might be headed toward a rematch in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap on March 30 at the Fair Grounds.
Graydar, whose ownership group – Twin Creeks Racing Stables – has Louisiana connections, likely will run next in that race, said Twin Creeks managing partner Steve Davison.
“That’s the target,” said Davison, an attorney from Ruston, La.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though post position no longer dictates her running tactics, Cubicle Queen still will likely play catch-me-if-you-can in Sunday’s $75,000 Dearly Precious Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.
The Dearly Precious was scheduled for Feb. 9, but that card was canceled due to a snowstorm, and this six-furlong race was rescheduled for Sunday. Originally carded with five runners, the Dearly Precious picked up an additional starter when trainer George Weaver supplemented True Fortune to the race.
Fastest qualifier Carverson heads a group of 10 3-year-olds chasing a $100,000 purse in Sunday’s South Florida Quarter Horse Derby at Hialeah Park.
The 440-yard derby is the richest of four stakes on a 10-race card on closing day that includes the $75,000 Hialeah Invitational at 440 yards, the $25,000 Sailfish at 1,000 yards, and the $20,000 Roble Ro Jo Bonus Challenge at 300 yards.
Rylees Boy won the $750,000 Champion of Champions over 440 yards at Los Alamitos in December, a career milestone that resulted in the now 8-year-old being honored as the 2012 champion aged horse and champion aged gelding.
The distance of the Champion of Champions was the key to victory, according to trainer Paul Jones, and why he is hesitant to rank Rylees Boy as his best chance in Sunday’s $171,300 Los Alamitos Winter Championship over 400 yards. The winner of the Winter Championship receives an automatic berth to the $750,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 14.
NEW ORLEANS – On turf or dirt, Wire Me Bessie will be running in the allowance feature Sunday at Fair Grounds.
Trainer Richard Smith said he wants to see if Wire Me Bessie, who has won her last two starts, can handle grass. There’s no reason to think she can’t, he said.
“She was born on it,’’ he said, using a Charlie Whittingham line. “I think she’ll run anywhere. I just want to see.’’
Turfway Park officials announced Friday that one of its sister companies, Horseshoe Cincinnati, has become the title sponsor of its showcase 3-year-old race, a development that includes a moderate purse increase from $500,000 to $550,000.
The Grade 3 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes, which goes at 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack, will be run March 23. Horseshoe Cincinnati replaces Vinery as the title sponsor. In a media release, Turfway did not say how long the sponsorship will extend.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer David Jacobson will have a slight concern, though not in the usual sense, when he sends Ea out as the probable favorite in Saturday’s $75,000 Moro Stakes at Aqueduct.
Jacobson will hope the 1 1/8 miles of the Moro will be long enough for Ea, a 9-year-old gelding who has found a niche as a 1 1/2-mile specialist.
