It wouldn’t be Gulfstream Park if trainer Nick Zito didn’t have at least one promising 2-year-old turning 3 to race here during the winter. Zito’s latest prospect is Mountain Eagle, a son of Birdstone who was an easy maiden winner going a mile making his second career start in Saturday’s second race.
Mountain Eagle is owned by Zito’s long-time client and friend Marylou Whitney.
“I am obviously happy for Marylou and John [Hendrickson],” Zito said after the race. “He looks like a nice horse.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ramon Rossel, a hot walker who worked for trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., was killed when his bicycle collided with a horse van late Friday afternoon at Aqueduct. Rossel was 37.
According to Richard Metivier, a trainer who witnessed the incident, the New York Racing Association horse van - which was to take horses back to Belmont Park - was moving into place at the chute on the backside when it struck Rossel’s bicycle.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A small field appears to be shaping up for next Sunday’s $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday at Gulfstream Park but trainer Dave Fawkes is doing his part to help fill the starting gate with both the red-hot Cash Rules and the near multi-millionaire Duke of Mischief both being pointed for the race.
Although the main conditions for Tuesday night’s co-featured sixth race allowance at Charles Town state the race is restricted to fillies and mares who have never won two races, a pair of 4-year-old fillies own five victories apiece and four others in the eight-horse field have three wins apiece.
All are eligible because wins recorded against West Virginia-bred company don’t affect eligibility for Tuesday’s $26,000, 6 1/2-furlong race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Bourbon Bay, the veteran turf marathoner, is likely to follow a familiar schedule this winter and into the spring.
A 6-year-old, Bourbon Bay makes his first start after a two-month break in Saturday’s $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park, a prelude to the turf distance stakes at Santa Anita over the winter and early spring.
If last season is any indication, Bourbon Bay will have to be respected throughout the upcoming season.
Even to Philadelphia-area fans who follow Parx Racing closely, Marcos Zulueta isn’t a well-known trainer.
Zulueta didn’t win his first race until June 2011. He saddled just 34 horses in his rookie season last year and has sent out only 76 starters so far in 2012.
But based on what he has done in that short span of time, Zulueta is a trainer who should not be flying under the radar for much longer.
Winning at a high percentage, Zulueta looks poised to strike with former claimer Lady Repent in Monday’s $47,000 sprint feature at Parx.
A Dallas man has been charged with cashing approximately 1,445 Internal Revenue Service tickets on behalf of others during a three-year period at Lone Star Park. The winnings from tax forms Willie L. Loveless filled out from February 2008 to November 2010 totaled more than $1.69 million, according to a federal indictment. Loveless, who was taken into custody, had his first court appearance on Dec. 4. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bond, according to court officials.
For the first time in more than a decade, someone other John Davila Jr. finished atop the jockey standings at Finger Lakes.
Wilfredo Rohena, 47, officially ended Davila’s 10-year reign as leading rider when Finger Lakes completed its 2012 season on Friday. Fittingly, Rohena won the last race of the meet aboard the 5-year-old mare Bandit Lady.
Rohena, a 28-year veteran who led the standings at El Commandante in his native Puerto Rico in 1994, finished the season with 138 victories, nine more than Davila.
He’s Had Enough, the runner-up in the BC Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, has finished his major preparation for the $750,000 CashCall Futurity on Dec. 15.
Last Wednesday at Santa Anita, He’s Had Enough worked six furlongs in 1:13.40.
“He’ll gallop pretty strongly right into the race,” trainer Doug O’Neill said.
Hennesey Smash will be seeking her fifth consecutive win when she takes on older rivals Sunday in the $85,000 New Mexico State Racing Commission Handicap at Sunland Park. The race is one of two sprint stakes on the card for New Mexico-breds. The $85,000 Johnie L. Jamison Handicap is led by New Mexico Cup Sprint winner Attitude E Racer.
