HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is planning another New Orleans invasion. He said at his Oaklawn Park base on Tuesday that Oxbow is among four horses he has pointing for each of the graded stakes to be run at Fair Grounds on Feb. 23.
“The races fit, and it’s a lot easier to take four down there than one,” said Lukas.
Jockey Russell Baze can now look forward to his next milestone – 12,000 victories.
Baze competed in his 50,000th Thoroughbred race Friday, finishing third aboard Finish Rich in Nyc. But he still made it to the winner’s circle for a photo to commemorate the achievement. Fellow jockeys and track officials joined him for the photograph.
There was a little turnabout in Saturday’s $300,000 California Breeders Champion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.
Fillies with Northern California roots finished one-two-three, with the Ed Moger Jr.-trained Qiaona defeating the Jeff Bonde-trained Unusual Way by a half-length and the Steve Specht-trained trained Marks Mine another length back in third for a $1,764 trifecta. Northern California training king Jerry Hollendorfer’s favored Doinghardtimeagain was fourth for a Northern California training superfecta.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A 5-year-old Arkansas-bred who has lost his last six races may be the horse to follow in California’s top turf miles this year.
Strong Suit was winless in five stakes in England last year, and finished 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs in 2011, but the way he is training and his four group stakes wins in England as a 2- and 3-year-old in 2010 and 2011 has new trainer Simon Callaghan confident that the horse can play a key role on turf in the United States this season.
Trainer Rick Violette Jr. observed at last Friday’s board meeting of the New York Racing Association that “not everybody can eat steak and lobster year round.” Horseplayers looking to upgrade from hamburger to surf and turf, however, will give both of his runners a long look in Thursday’s late pick four sequence.
In race 7, a one-mile starter optional claimer originally on the menu a week ago, the New York-bred Go Get the Basil stretches out against open company after closing out his juvenile campaign with six-furlong scores at 23-1 and 10-1.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are three entry-level optional-claiming races carded over the turf on Thursday’s 10-race program at Gulfstream Park. Among all the horses competing in those three events, the two most intriguing are Fearless Jacq and To My Valentine, who will square off against one another in race 9, a five-furlong dash for 3-year-old fillies which carries a $54,500 purse.
Turf Paradise in Phoenix was forced to cancel a fourth straight live card Tuesday as the main track and turf course remained unsuitable for racing after record rains pelted the area over the past few days.
According to track general manager Vince Francia, the track received permission from the Arizona Racing Commission to take Tuesday’s card and move it in its entirety to Thursday, normally a dark day.
The track will take its normal dark day Wednsday and pick up Thursday with 12:30 p.m. first post.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After a disappointing 4-year-old season compromised by physical issues, 2011 Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice looks to jump-start his career when he makes his 5-year-old debut in a third-level allowance race Wednesday at Aqueduct.
The one-mile race drew a field of six, though Kelly Breen, the trainer of Ruler On Ice, said he will most likely scratch the other half of his entry, Nacho Business.
Wednesday’s nine-race card at Aqueduct also features a pick-six carryover of $31,203, starting with race 4. Ruler On Ice runs in race 3.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Dust and Diamonds, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint behind the champion Groupie Doll, has been retired and sent to Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. Dust and Diamonds retired a winner, having captured the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl here on Dec. 8.
Dust and Diamonds, a daughter of Vindication, was purchased out of the Fasig-Tipton November sale just days after the Breeders’ Cup.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Little Mike had his first grass work of the winter on Sunday, going a very easy five furlongs in 1:01.31 over the firm Gulfstream Park turf course.
“I wanted to let him run a little bit for the first time since he’s come back, so I put him on the grass, and I was real pleased with him,” said trainer Dale Romans. “He’s started looking like his old self, and it’s time to try squeezing the lemon a little bit with him, although all his works will not be on the turf.”
