Tue, 02/05/2013 - 13:00

Gulfstream Park: Absolute Crackers puts stakes plans on hold in Thursday allowance

Bob Coglianese
Absolute Crackers wins an allowance race in her Gulfstream Park debut on Jan. 13.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Graham Motion has nominated Absolute Crackers to Saturday’s Grade 3 Suwannee River as well as the Grade 3 The Very One the following weekend. But barring a last-minute change of heart, Motion will take the more conservative route with the stakes-caliber Absolute Crackers and keep her with allowance company one more time in Thursday’s $60,500 main event, carded at a mile on the grass.

Tue, 02/05/2013 - 12:56

Aqueduct: Carryover chase also sees Contessa, Galluscio going for milestones

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Gary Contessa enters Thursday’s program with 1,999 career victories.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainers Gary Contessa and Dominic Galluscio will be chasing milestones while pick six players will be chasing a carryover of $36,873 when racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct.

Contessa, 55, enters Thursday’s program with 1,999 career victories. He has seven horses entered in five races as he seeks to become the 89th trainer to win 2,000 races.

Galluscio, 54, enters the day with 998 career victories. He has four horses entered in three races as he attempts to win his 1,000th race.

Tue, 02/05/2013 - 12:55

Charles Town: Charles McIntosh named new racing secretary

Charles Town Races in West Virginia has elevated Charles McIntosh to the position of racing secretary, filling a position vacated last year after the track fired its former racing secretary, Randy Wehrman.

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 18:28

Aqueduct: Dominguez begins rehabilitation program for brain injury

Barbara D. Livingston
It is uncertain how long Ramon Dominguez will have to remain at his rehabilitation facility.

Jockey Ramon Dominguez has begun a brain injury rehabilitation program at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y., as he continues to recover from a fractured skull he suffered in a spill at Aqueduct last month.

Last Wednesday, Dominguez was transferred from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan to the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital. It is uncertain how long he will have to remain at Burke.

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 16:21

Aqueduct: Correction 1-2 going separate ways

Tom Keyser
Cluster of Stars (right) bested Nicole H by a head in the $100,000 Correction Stakes at Aqueduct.

Cluster of Stars and Nicole H, separated by a head in Saturday’s $100,000 Correction Stakes, are likely headed in different directions for their next starts.

Nicole H, who suffered her first loss in six starts on the inner track – all stakes – will make a quick turnaround and run next in the Grade 2, $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park on Feb. 16.

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 16:19

Aqueduct notes: Toboggan rematch possible in Tom Fool

Barbara D. Livingston
Head Heart Hoof (left) and Johannesburg Smile finished one-two in the Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes.

Head Heart Hoof and Johannesburg Smile, the one-two finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes, could meet again in the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool on March 2.

Head Heart Hoof has won his last two starts at six furlongs over the inner track, and the Tom Fool would be the last sprint stakes run under those conditions this winter.

Johannesburg Smile, who hadn’t sprinted in four years, ran a credible second in the Toboggan, which may encourage his connections to try six furlongs again.

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 15:55

Gulfstream Park: $1.4 million Rainbow 6 carryover for Wednesday

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A carryover of $1,399,085 will be waiting in the Rainbow 6 pool when racing resumes on Wednesday. The Rainbow 6 jackpot can only be hit if there is a single ticket on the winning combination.

There was one unique ticket alive going into Sunday’s 11th race on longshot Long Legged Girl which would have paid in excess of $1.5 million, but she finished fifth. Six of six winners still returned a generous $15,017 for a 10-cent wager. The Rainbow 6 attracted $400,000 in new money on both Saturday and Sunday.
 

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 15:52

Gulfstream Park: Fountain of Youth could be next for My Name Is Michael and Speak Logistics

Tom Keyser
Speak Logistics finished a troubled fourth in the Sam Davis at Tampa Bay Downs and may return Feb. 23 in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - My Name Is Michael and Speak Logistics, the third- and fourth-place finishers in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa, could return here on Feb. 23 in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, said their respective trainers, Mott and Eddie Plesa Jr.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 15:48

Aqueduct: Princess of Sylmar has Alabama Stakes as major target

Barbara D. Livingston
Princess of Sylmar, winner of the Busher Stakes, has the Grade 1 Alabama as a long-term goal.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While most owners with a 3-year-old filly as talented as Princess of Sylmar would be thinking about the Kentucky Oaks, Ed Stanco has another top-class race for 3-year-old fillies on his mind.

As a native of Schenectady, N.Y., Stanco said he would love to win the Grade 1 Alabama, the signature race for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga, held this year on Aug. 17.

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 15:45

Gulfstream Park: Royal Delta on schedule for Sabin

Barbara D. Livingston
Royal Delta will use the Grade 3 Sabin as a prep for the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Two-time Eclipse Award winner Royal Delta continues to progress toward her much-anticipated 5-year-old debut here a week from Sunday in the Grade 3 Sabin after breezing six furlongs in 1:15 at Payson Park on Sunday morning. Trainer Bill Mott is planning on using the Sabin as a prep for the $10 million Dubai World Cup, as he did a year ago.