ARCADIA, Calif. – One other-than, take two.
Eblouissante, Zenyatta’s half-sister and crushing maiden winner in her only start, resumes her career Thursday in a first-level allowance at Santa Anita, one month after she banged her hip on a receiving barn door at Betfair Hollywood Park and scratched 30 minutes out.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Depending on your point of view, Promise Me a Cat is either the one to beat or a vulnerable morning-line favorite in Thursday’s feature for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
Promise Me a Cat, the lone entrant in for the optional $62,500 claiming price, returned from a layoff for Carlos Martin in this same condition during the last week of the fall meet. She was never headed at odds of 3-5 and handed runner-up Centrique her only defeat from her last six starts. Moreover, the third and fourth finishers, Score Boyera and Celtic Chant, came back to win as well.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Lady of Fifty and Snow Fall have given trainer Jerry Hollendorfer a formidable team in upcoming major stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Last Sunday, Snow Fall won her first stakes in California in the $81,700 Paseana Handicap over 1 1/16 miles. She is expected to make her next start in the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes over 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares Feb. 16.
The Grade 2 Santa Maria would suit Lady of Fifty, depending on how she runs in the $150,000 La Canada Stakes for 4-year-old fillies on Sunday.
Remington Park in Oklahoma City is instituting a pre-race veterinary examination program and refusing entries from horsemen currently serving suspensions for Class 1 or Class 2 drug violations in new policies to be launched with the start of its Quarter Horse meet March 8. The policies announced Tuesday will also be in place for the Thoroughbred meet at Remington, according to track spokesperson Dale Day.
“This is going to be standard policy year-round for our racing program at Remington Park,” he said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Bet the Power will break from post 5 in Thursday’s featured eighth race at Oaklawn, a better post than in his last start, when he broke from the rail in the $350,000 De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park.
“That will help us,” trainer Kenny Smith said of the draw.
A decision on whether Betfair Hollywood Park will conduct a fall meeting later this year, or be closed for future development, is expected to be announced at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting at Santa Anita.
Prep races last weekend helped clear the air regarding the $50,000 California Oaks on Feb. 9 and Grade 3, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 16.
Sent off the 9-10 favorite, Zeewat won Saturday’s $100,000 California Derby as expected. The runner-up was Wildcat Moon, who was making both his route and stakes debuts.
Both are being pointed to the El Camino Real Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Barclay Tagg was still shaking his head earlier this week when thinking about the trip his unlucky Sky Blazer endured in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes. Sky Blazer finished eighth behind longshot winner Mucho Mas Mucho after having to check numerous times when blocked in traffic near the inside through the stretch.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The last time Cool Blue Red Hot was sighted in the afternoon, he was running the race of his life finishing third here in the 2012 edition of the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope. Now, trainer Angel Penna Jr. is hoping Cool Blue Red Hot can regain that top form when he returns from a year on the sidelines in Thursday’s $60,500 optional claiming feature at Gulfstream Park.
Churchill Downs has unveiled a multi-purpose facility known as The Parlay, which is intended to replace the Joe Hirsch Media Center for working media while also serving as the primary base for off-season simulcast bettors.
