Mudflats, a 2-year-old Tapit gelding who was an impressive winner against maidens at Aqueduct on Dec. 8, has been purchased privately and will now be trained by Doug O’Neill, who won this year’s Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another, according to bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neill, Doug’s brother.
African Rose landed in a stakes brimming with opposing speed in her last start, yet still managed to pull off a front-running win. She will attempt to duplicate the impressive effort on Saturday, when she takes on the sharp speed horse Hennesey Smash in the $50,000 Bold Ego at Sunland Park.
African Rose and Hennesey Smash, a winner of her last four starts, should start as the top two choices in the Bold Ego. They are co-highweighted at 120 pounds in the 5 1/2-furlong handicap for fillies and mares, and they have a combined record of 10 wins from 17 starts.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Hold On Smokey will shoot for his third straight win Saturday when he tops a solid field of 10 optional-claiming sprinters in the five-furlong headliner over the Tampa Bay Downs turf course.
A 7-year-old with 12 career wins, Hold On Smokey will be dropping back slightly in distance for Saturday’s sprint, having raced at 5 1/2 furlongs at Laurel in his last three starts.
PHOENIX – Touch the Sun looks to continue his ascent, as the 4-year-old gelding steps up in class in the $35,000 Hank Mills Sr. Handicap at Turf Paradise on Saturday. The one-mile, main-track event drew a field of eight.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Woodbine Entertainment Group has reported an all-sources wagering total of $453,865,564 for the 156-day Thoroughbred meeting which ended last Sunday, up 7.2 percent over the $423,209,365 wagered on the 165 dates offered in 2011.
The daily average handle from all sources this year was $2,909,394, a 13.4 percent hike from last year’s $2,564,905.
The Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins on Dec. 26 will be shown on TVG, the racing network announced on Wednesday.
It will be the first time that TVG has shown the races from the winter-spring meeting. Earlier this year, the California Horse Racing Board urged TVG and its rival network, HRTV, to share exclusive signals of California racetracks. The reciprocal agreement was a term of the license for the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that was approved by the racing board in October.
Citrus Kid returned from a 15-month layoff to upset the 1-5 El Padrino in Wednesday’s $60,500 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.
Citrus Kid, a son of Lemon Drop Kid, had not started since finishing second in Parx’s President’s Cup in September 2011. Trainer John Terranova had entered and scratched Citrus Kid twice prior to Wednesday’s return, in both the Tropical Turf Handicap at Calder on Dec. 30 and here Saturday in the Harlan’s Holiday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Little Mike won two of the most prestigious grass races in this country in 2012, the Arlington Million and Breeders’ Cup Turf. His next major goal could be the richest race in the world, the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
A barn at Gulfstream Park was placed under restriction on Wednesday following the death of an unidentified horse from the barn that morning.
“We got a report that a horse had died with neurological symptoms,” said Tim Ritvo, Gulfstream Park’s president and general manager. “The case was reported to the state, and we are taking precautionary measures by placing restrictions on the barn until the test results come back on the deceased horse.
“From the symptoms the horse was displaying, our veterinarian believes it might have had a case of EPM.”
Trainer Michelle Lovell has her fingers crossed, and that’s even before she begins wishing for racing luck.
“I just hope the races stay on the turf,” she said.
An 80 percent chance of rain was forecast for Thursday in the New Orleans area, jeopardizing grass racing not only for that afternoon, but also for Friday. Lovell has two of her better horses, No Rules Now and At the Pulpit, entered in the two one-mile turf allowances that anchor a 10-race Friday card, and both stand solid chances if the right weather prevails.
