Though he successfully navigated two turns and a mile in his victory in Sunday’s Turnofthecentury Stakes here, Brigand will return to one turn and seven furlongs for the Grade 2, $250,000 General George Handicap at Laurel on Feb. 18.
Brigand, a New York-bred son of Flatter, won the Turnofthecentury by 2 3/4 lengths on the front end. Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Brigand ran a mile in 1:36.70 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
Conspicuous by her absence from Saturday’s $75,000 Affectionately Stakes field was Ladies Handicap winner Arena Elvira, who trainer Bill Mott confirmed Wednesday has been retired from racing.
Mott, speaking from Florida, said Arena Elvira “wasn’t moving well” coming out of the Ladies. She will be bred to Tapit.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The imposing presence of the undefeated and recently elected 2-year-old champion Shanghai Bobby failed to scare off the opposition for Saturday’s $400,000 Holy Bull, the first of three major Kentucky Derby preps to be run here this meet. Nine other 3-year-olds entered the Grade 3 race, with the somewhat larger-than-expected field potentially posing the biggest obstacle to the champ’s success, considering the short run to the first turn in 1 1/16-mile races at Gulfstream Park.
Trainer Nick Zito reported that his promising 3-year-old turf prospect Flying Bird underwent minor throat surgery Wednesday after flipping his palate during the running of Sunday’s Kitten’s Joy Stakes.
Flying Bird, a son of Street Bird owned by Marylou Whitney, showed little in the Kitten’s Joy, finishing a distant eighth behind the odds-on favorite Charming Kitten. Flying Bird had won each of his two previous starts, both on grass, to close his 2-year-old campaign.
ARCADIA, Calif. – While trainer Doug O’Neill was away in Arkansas on Monday, watching Avare finish seventh in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the stable won its biggest race of the young season with Renee’s Titan in the $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clawback, the authoritative winner of Monday’s Jimmy Winkfield Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Aqueduct, will be given the opportunity to stretch out in distance for his next start, trainer Rick Violette said Wednesday.
Though Violette had yet to pick out a spot for Clawback’s two-turn debut, he believes the horse has shown him enough to take a shot in a distance race in hopes of joining the Triple Crown trail. Clawback, a son of Put It Back, has yet to run beyond 6 1/2 furlongs in four career starts.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Groupie Doll, an almost unanimous choice as female sprint champion in 2012, will return to Buff Bradley’s farm in Kentucky for some additional rest after not training to her trainer’s satisfaction since her arrival at Gulfstream Park just before the start of the New Year.
Sisterly Love, who is undefeated in three career starts, will be making her stakes debut in Saturday night’s $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic after supplementing to the race’s inaugural running for $10,000 when entries were taken Wednesday. In all, a field of six fillies and mares will go in what will be the richest race ever run at Sam Houston Race Park, which opened in 1994.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Always in a Tiz, who came charging for third in Monday’s $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn, was back at his Gulfstream Park base Wednesday with plans for his next start to be determined, said his trainer, Dominick Schettino.
Always in a Tiz was the favorite in Monday’s Smarty Jones off a second-place finish to eventual Grade 2 Jerome winner Vyjack in an Aqueduct overnight stakes Dec. 9. He rallied for third, beaten a neck by winner Will Take Charge, in his Oaklawn debut. Always in a Tiz earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 85.
Officials at Turfway Park will add four days of racing next month, thereby eliminating the two dark weekends that were originally scheduled for the northern Kentucky track.
Feb. 15-16 and 22-23 were supposed to be dark, but Turfway reserved them as provisional dates in its formal request last fall to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. “We’ve decided to go on and use them,” general manager Chip Bach said Wednesday.
