BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – If trainer Graham Motion had his druthers, the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap would be run next weekend, not on Feb. 9 as scheduled. That’s how good his 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom is doing in preparation for his much-anticipated 2013 debut.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Fragile but fast, Smoldering Beauty makes another return from a lengthy layoff when she tops a five-horse field entered Wednesday at Aqueduct in a $62,000 allowance sprint for fillies and mares who have never won two races.
This is one of two six-furlong allowance races on Wednesday’s nine-race program, which starts a six-day week of racing at the Big A culminating with Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day card.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Wow!
Whether it was the addition of blinkers, the presence of a blistering pace battle in front of him, or just the case of a good fresh horse sitting on a big race, many who witnessed the 3-year-old debut of John Oxley’s Sky Mesa colt Dynamic Sky in Saturday’s $100,000 Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs came away with the feeling they may well have seen a horse with true Triple Crown potential.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
ARCADIA, Calif. - At 4 p.m. on Saturday, jockey Rafael Bejarano was being discharged from a local hospital, cleared of injury after a spill that day at Santa Anita.
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday, Bejarano was in the winner’s circle at Santa Anita after guiding Jeranimo to a brilliant win in the $150,500 San Gabriel Stakes on turf.
“I feel better because of this horse,” Bejarano said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- Csaba showed he belongs at the next level, as did his jockey Luis Saez, after the pair combined for a hard-fought neck victory over the fast-closing Pool Play in Sunday’s $150,000 Hal’s Hope at Gulfstream Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Snow Fall won her first stakes in California, and the second stakes of her career, in Sunday’s $81,700 Paseana Handicap for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Snow Fall ($13) had an ideal trip under jockey Tyler Baze to secure a convincing win by 3 1/4 lengths in the race over 1 1/16 miles. She was timed in 1:42.66.
Baze had Snow Fall in second for the first half-mile, stalking pacesetter Distracting through fractions of 23.80 and 47.61 seconds.
Eblouissante, a half-sister to 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, is entered in a first-level optional $40,000 claimer over 1 1/16 miles in Thursday’s seventh race at Santa Anita.
Trained by John Shirreffs for breeder Eric Kronfeld, Eblouissante is part of a field of five. A 4-year-old filly, Eblouissante has made one start, winning a maiden race over 1 1/16 miles at Betfair Hollywood Park on Nov. 16. She was entered in an optional claimer at Hollywood Park on Dec. 15, but was scratched 30 minutes before the race after striking her hip on a door in the receiving barn.
Midnight Transfer, a stakes-winning sprinter as a 3-year-old in 2012, won his comeback race in an optional claimer over 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Midnight Transfer closed from fifth in a field of seven to win the optional claimer by 1 1/4 lengths as the 6-5 favorite. He was timed in 1:15.70, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 103.
Sunday, trainer Carla Gaines said that Midnight Transfer is likely to start in another sprint this winter. The $200,000 San Carlos Stakes over seven furlongs on Feb. 23 is a consideration.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The first three finishers of Saturday’s $151,000 San Fernando Stakes – Fed Biz, Tritap, and Guilt Trip – are likely to have a rematch in the $200,000 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 2.
Fed Biz won the Grade 2 San Fernando Stakes for 4-year-olds by a head over 9-1 Tritap. Guilt Trip closed well from sixth in a field of nine to finish third, a half-length behind Tritap.
Bob Baffert trains Fed Biz and Guilt Trip.
“We thought Fed Biz would be the horse to beat if he ran his race,” Baffert said.
