OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dance Card, winner of the Grade 1 Gazelle last fall at Aqueduct, had surgery on both of her front ankles and will be out until late summer, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Tuesday.
Dance Card, who won her last four races after losing her debut, is rehabilitating at Keeneland with Darley Stable’s John Burke, according to McLaughlin.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Javier Castellano’s primary reason for leaving Gulfstream Park to come to Aqueduct Thursday is to ride Caixa Eletronica in the $75,000 Uncle Mo Stakes.
But he will also get to ride the undefeated filly Cluster of Stars in a $64,000 second-level allowance race, which goes as race 4 on the program.
Cluster of Stars, whose training is overseen by Steve Asmussen’s New York-based assistant Toby Sheets, was being pointed for an overnight stakes last week that failed to fill, so she went in this open company allowance race instead.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mr Palmer, the authoritative winner of last Saturday’s Private Terms Stakes at Laurel, will try to jump on the Triple Crown trail in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial on April 6, his connections said Wednesday.
“If everything looks good he’ll probably try the Wood,” Leana Willaford, New York-based assistant to trainer Bill Mott, said Wednesday.
Willaford reported that Mr Palmer has emerged from the Private Terms in good order.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A week that began with rain ended with sunshine last Sunday, and lookee here, a pot of gold was at the end of the rainbow. No one hit the pick six Sunday at Santa Anita, so when racing resumes Thursday, players will have a carryover of $94,394 awaiting them, with an intriguing downhill turf sprint as the day’s featured seventh race.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oxbow fired a bullet Tuesday morning at Oaklawn in his final prep for Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel, which has a potential field of 14 starters. The 1 1/16-mile race is expected to lure shippers from both coasts, including Super Ninety Nine, Delhomme, and Den’s Legacy.
Jockey Joy Scott suffered a compound fracture to her right femur during a training accident on Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, according to her son, Jesse Sanchez.
Sanchez, 25, lives in New York City. He said he was going to fly to California Tuesday night in order to be with his mother by Wednesday.
Sanchez, in a telephone call, also confirmed that Scott was admitted to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif.
Several top-class runners had workouts Monday at Santa Anita as they neared a return from lengthy layoffs, chief among them Paynter, who went a half-mile in 48.40 seconds in his third timed drill since his return to training for Bob Baffert.
Paynter has not raced since winning the Haskell last summer at Monmouth. Soon thereafter, he became seriously ill and spent time in three different equine hospitals before recovering.
Gary Stevens has picked up right where he left off – seven years ago. The Hall of Fame jockey, who turned 50 last week, guided Great Hot to her victory in the Santa Maria Stakes on Feb. 16 and will be back aboard Saturday in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita. Similarly, he scored a gate-to-wire win with Slim Shadey in the San Marcos on Feb. 9, and they will reunite Saturday in the Grade 2, $150,000 San Luis Rey Stakes, giving Stevens a chance to sweep the day’s stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Caixa Eletronica has not raced since feasting on four opponents in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap last Thanksgiving over Aqueduct’s main track.
Caixa Eletronica looks like he should find his four rivals beatable when he makes his 8-year-old debut in Thursday’s $75,000 Uncle Mo Stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track. He makes his comeback after being sidelined most of the winter with a bruised foot.
Trainer Keith Desormeaux reported Tuesday that he was informed that the ankle surgery performed the previous day on Ive Struck a Nerve “went about as well as can be expected. The colt came out of it just great and is standing and doing just fine.”
Ive Struck a Nerve suffered a fractured sesamoid in his left front ankle during a Saturday workout at Fair Grounds. Surgery that involved the insertion of one screw was performed in Lexington, Ky., at the Rood and Riddle equine hospital by Dr. Larry Bramlage, the noted equine surgeon.
