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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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.
