The San Carlos over seven furlongs has a projected field of eight led by Midnight Transfer, winner of an optional claimer last month in his first start in nine months; Sahara Sky, who won the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes last month; and The Lumber Guy, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Other expected starters are Canonize, Capital Account, Comma to the Top, Drill, and Justin Philip.
Ex-jockey Almeida to saddle first runners
NEW ORLEANS – A half-hour after the end of training Wednesday morning, a Fair Grounds trainer beckoned a reporter onto a viewing stand looking out over a deserted racetrack.
“Look at that turf course,” the trainer said, pointing toward the lush green oval, blades of grass waving in a strong east wind. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a turf course look that good.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Brown Almighty, who was eighth in the Southwest at Oaklawn Park, will make his next start in the $100,000 OBS Championship at the Ocala Training Center on March 11, trainer Tim Ice said. From there, the horse will be pointed to a turf campaign. He is a stakes winner on the grass.
“We gave him a shot on the dirt, and he was climbing pretty good going into that first turn,” Ice said. “Instead of continually trying to make him a dirt horse, as well as he’s performed on turf, we’ll just go back to turf.”
NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Malcolm Pierce was not kidding when he said plans called to go slowly with the promising A.P. Indy filly Deceptive Vision.
In the second start of her career, on Jan. 4, Deceptive Vision won a two-turn dirt maiden race at Fair Grounds by 3 1/4 lengths. She is just now getting back to racing action as one of 11 3-year-old fillies entered in an interesting first-level, two-turn allowance race serving as the Friday night feature at Fair Grounds.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Always in a Tiz, who finished fifth as the second choice in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn this past Monday, was found to have a lung infection following the race, according to his connections. The horse came into the Southwest off a fast-closing third in last month’s $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn.
“He scoped with a lung infection,” said Anthony Bonomo Jr., general manager for MeB Racing Stables and Brooklyn Boyz Stables.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Livi Makenzie ran in some of the more important sprints for 3-year-old fillies last year, but now it’s time to get her two-turn game on. Trainer Ron Moquett will be stretching Livi Makenzie back out in distance Friday, for the eighth race at Oaklawn.
Srumdiddlyumptious and Singlet, who finished a half-length apart when one-two in Penn National’s Femme Fatale Stakes last summer, knock heads again as they head a field of five fillies and mares in Friday’s $75,000 Ruby Rubles Stakes at Aqueduct.
Srumdiddlyumptious makes her first start since the Mandy’s Gold Stakes at Saratoga last Aug. 8, when she set the early pace and faded to fourth behind returning champion My Miss Aurelia at 6 1/2 furlongs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Anybody putting in a Rainbow 6 ticket on Friday at Gulfstream Park – and that seems to be just about everybody these days – may want to try narrowing their selections to just two horses, Silent Fright and Sonja’s Angel, in the afternoon’s featured ninth event, a first-level optional $25,000 claiming race for older fillies and mares at five and a half furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Clubhouse Ride, second in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 3, will not run in Saturday’s $200,000 San Carlos Stakes for sprinters at Santa Anita, trainer Craig Lewis said Wednesday.
Lewis hopes to run Clubhouse Ride in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap over 1 1/4 miles on March 2, pending the publication of the weights this weekend.
“I’m leaning toward the Big Cap,” Lewis said. “I discussed with the owner, and we decided we’d rather go there. The money is enticing.”
Betfair Hollywood Park has eliminated two $100,000 turf stakes for the upcoming spring-summer meeting, the Inglewood and Beverly Hills handicaps.
The meeting runs from April 25 through July 14 and has 47 stakes, two fewer than during the 2012 meeting. The richest races of the meeting will be the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 6 and the $350,000 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on turf July 13.
