Joyful Victory will be returning to Grade 1 competition following her track-record performance in Saturday night’s inaugural $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston Race Park. Trainer Larry Jones said Wednesday that Joyful Victory will make her next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita on March 16. She will be traveling to Southern California from her Fair Grounds base in New Orleans.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It would not have been out of line had Saturday’s Charm been entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Handicap at Aqueduct.
However, the connections opted for a softer spot in Friday’s $64,000 feature for sprinters that have never won three races or whose connections want to risk losing them for a claiming tag of $35,000.
Despite being the richest race on the card, the allowance feature goes as the first.
That sigh of relief emanating from Aqueduct early Wednesday afternoon came from trainer Kelly Breen after watching Ruler On Ice win for the first time since his upset victory in the 2011 Belmont Stakes.
Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Ruler On Ice rallied from last in a four-horse to field to run down pacesetting Spa City Fever and win a third-level allowance race by three-quarters of a length. It broke a nine-racing losing streak dating back to the Belmont for Ruler On Ice, a 5-year-old gelding by Roman Ruler owned by George and Lori Hall.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Barclay Tagg put his multiple stakes winner Beau Choix into Friday’s $65,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park hoping to find a little softer spot for him. Instead, Beau Choix will line up against a stakes-caliber group that also includes Grade 3 winner Upgrade, the multiple Grade 3 winner Get Serious, the Grade 3-placed Empire Builder, multiple stakes winner Decisive Moment, the Group 1 South American winner Grand Berry, and the red-hot Major Marvel.
ARCADIA, Calif. – From last July through Jan. 1, Somethingabouther ran in seven consecutive stakes in Virginia and California, never winning. She has reached a point in her career where a confidence boost might help.
The string of stakes appearancces ends Friday when Somethingabouther starts in a $58,000 allowance race over a mile on turf for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.
Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can will make her long awaited return to action Saturday when she heads a field of six fillies and mares in the $100,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes at Fair Grounds.
Trainer Larry Jones said Wednesday from the New Orleans track that he is excited about the way Believe You Can has trained into the Tiffany Lass, which will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
PHOENIX – Friday’s clash between top local sprinters Derive and Absolutely Cool in the $35,000 Swift was delayed a few days, but judging by their previous meetings it will be worth the wait. The Swift was originally scheduled for last Saturday, but was postponed when that card was scrapped after heavy rains made the track unsuitable for racing.
Al Stall Jr. is quite the realist and therefore knows how highly improbable it would be for a 3-year-old named Sunbean to closely follow in the revered Louisiana-bred footsteps of the retired Star Guitar.
“I’d love to tell you he’s going to make a million-eight,” said Stall, exaggerating only a little regarding the $1,749,862 earned by Star Guitar. “But I’d say the odds are against that happening.”
