OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Dominic Galluscio is closing in on a personal milestone of 1,000 career victories, standing at 991 following Johannesburg Smile’s victory here Friday from which he was claimed for $100,000 by Mike Repole.
Galluscio has won a plethora of New York-bred stakes throughout his career and believes he would have already hit the 1,000-win plateau if he hadn’t opted to take some chances with some of those horses.
NEW ORLEANS – Evelyn Benoit said she was cooking a pot of beans when she came up with the name Mean Butterbean for the first foal out of X Strawdnair.
Mean Butterbean was a fast money-maker for Evelyn and Maurice Benoit’s Brittlyn Stable, and brothers and sisters produced by the mare – all with “bean” in their names – have continued the family tradition.
The two biggest races of the summer at Colonial Downs will take substantial purse cuts as part of the 2013 stakes schedule announced earlier this week.
The Colonial Turf Cup, restored to Grade 2 status for this season, has taken a $200,000 hit and will now be worth $300,000. The Grade 2 Virginia Derby will now offer a purse of $500,000, a reduction of $100,000.
According to a press release, the purse cuts were necessary to “help boost the level for overnight races.”
Flame N Flash, the filly who almost stole the $750,000 Champions of Champions against older males last month, reverts to the female division for Sunday’s $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap at Los Alamitos.
For her 4-year-old debut, Flame N Flash will be favored to win her third major race in the last year. She won the La Primera Del Ano Derby last April and the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Handicap in September.
In the Champion of Champions over 440 yards, Flame N Flash led by a neck midway through the race, but was caught in the final strides by Rylees Boy, losing by a head.
Forest Mouse has been a significant player in the New Mexico handicap ranks since moving to the state last February. He has finished first or second in his eight starts, and on Sunday will be seeking his second consecutive stakes win when he goes to post as the probable favorite in the $50,000 Winsham Lad at Sunland Park.
“Ever since he’s joined our barn, we have had nothing but fun with him,” said Henry Dominguez, who trains Forest Mouse for Parnell Thomas.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Grade 1-placed Nonios, who was a candidate for the Strub series this winter at Santa Anita, will be sidelined for several months, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday morning.
“He has an injury and we need to turn him out,” Hollendorfer said, declining to be more specific. “He doesn’t have any fractures or a bowed tendon, but he’s going to be out for a few months. He could make it back by the end of the year.”
A couple of veteran jockeys ran afoul of the stewards recently at Turfway Park, with both having been dealt lengthy suspensions for different violations.
Marlon St. Julien has been suspended indefinitely, pending his completion of a drug-treatment program, while Sal Gonzalez Jr. has appealed two suspensions totaling 30 days for "unsatisfactory rides" in December races at the northern Kentucky track.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens is making a comeback at Santa Anita on Sunday, seven years after he retired from riding and two months after he resumed working horses.
Stevens, 49, has been named to ride Jebrica in a $50,000 claimer on turf in Sunday’s sixth race. It is his only mount of the day and is the start of a comeback that Stevens said Thursday he has been contemplating since late last year.
Abel Castellano captured his first year-long riding title in Maryland in 2012.
Castellano, 29, finished the year with 132 victories, 11 more than 2011 champion Sheldon Russell, including 59 in the fall meet that ended Dec. 31 at Laurel Park. He also tied for first among locally based jockeys with eight stakes wins, including five aboard Bold Affair.
The totals include racing at Laurel and Pimlico, but not those at the short Maryland State Fair at Timonium meet.
Gulfstream Park plans to run head-to-head against crosstown Calder Race Course on weekends later this year as part of a plan to run year round at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track, Gulfstream officials said Thursday.
The officials said that Gulfstream plans to finish its meet this year and then begin running on weekends the first week of July, provided state regulators approve a dates request filed by the track Dec. 31. The request covers the 12 months running from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014.
