Called to Serve, preparing for a start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 2, worked five furlongs Friday morning in 1:00.69 over the Belmont training track.
The work, over a surface that yielded slow times all morning, was the fastest of 11 moves at the distance.
“I think the track was pretty dead,” said trainer Nick Canani, who timed Called to Serve’s final quarter in 24.20 seconds. “He worked great. We’re on schedule to leave on Feb. 5.”
Super Ninety Nine and Code West are bound for major stakes for 3-year-olds after finishing first and second in a quick allowance race over a mile Thursday at Santa Anita.
Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Super Ninety Nine ($5) stalked pacesetter Appealing Tale for the first six furlongs before pulling away to win by 3 1/4 lengths over Code West in 1:35.11. Super Ninety Nine was awarded a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.
The allowance race was Super Ninety Nine’s first start around two turns. In his last start, he finished fourth in an allowance race over six furlongs.Risen Sta
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clawback, sharp winner of the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes here on Jan. 21, will most likely make his first attempt around two turns in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes on March 2, trainer Rick Violette said Friday.
The Gotham is a two-turn race run at 1 1/16 miles over the inner track. It awards 85 qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby with 50 going to the winner.
“We’ll be nominated all over the place, including Oaklawn and Fair Grounds, but the most logical one right now is the Gotham to see if he wants to stretch out,” Violette said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup races, or any other stakes for that matter, did not work out for Second City and Tale of a Champion in the final months of 2012.
For both horses, divisions of Sunday’s $40,000 Super Bowl Party Starter Handicap over a mile on turf at Santa Anita may be a welcome respite from graded stakes. The starter handicaps, divided, appropriately enough, into the Baltimore and San Francisco divisions, are restricted to horses that have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less since Jan. 1, 2012.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. –Trainer Mark Casse is loaded with 3-year-old prospects this winter although the most highly regarded of the group, Uncaptured, still remains at least a month away from making his 2013 debut.
Uncaptured, a son of Lion Heart owned by John Oxley, won 5 of 6 starts at 2, including both the Grade 3 Iroquois and Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs. The lone blemish on his record came in his two-turn debut over the Polytrack at Woodbine, where he finished fifth after an unlucky trip.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tour Guide is a 3-year-old at a crossroads. He won his second straight sprint stakes last weekend, and his connections are now debating whether to stretch him out to two turns for either the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn on Feb. 18 or the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star at Fair Grounds on Feb. 23.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Had they not already had Escapefromreality pointed to Saturday’s $200,000 Withers Stakes, perhaps they would have taken a shot in that Grade 3 race with Ghostly Vision.
Both New York-breds had two career starts, and in the case of Ghostly Vision, he has already proven himself around two turns.
But owners Anthony and Mary Ellen Bonomo and trainer Dominick Schettino opted for a more conservative route and instead Ghostly Vision will run in a first-level allowance race for New York-breds, the nominal feature on Sunday’s nine-race program at Aqueduct.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Clubhouse Ride can run the best race of his career this weekend, yet only finish second. It is the same with Make Music for Me.
So why bother? Because nothing in racing is pre-ordained, even if everyone expects Game On Dude to win the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita.
“Anybody can stub their toe,” Clubhouse Ride’s trainer, Craig Lewis, said. “The likelihood is remote, but anybody can stub their toe. In racing, any scenario is possible.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dame Marie is stakes-tested and coming off a strong second-place finish in her 2013 debut earlier in the meet. But trip players may take a chance at beating the likely favorite with Cosmic Energy when the pair rematches under optional claiming conditions in Sunday’s $57,500 feature at Gulfstream Park.
ALTOONA, Iowa – Prairie Meadows, whose stakes program rose to new heights in 2012, will begin its 67-day Thoroughbred season April 19 with a similar look as last year. Racing will be conducted from Thursday to Sunday each week until Aug. 10.
The lone exception to the schedule is that there will be racing Wednesday, July 3, to accommodate the track’s fireworks show.
