Golden Rod Stakes winner Seaneen Girl was scratched Saturday morning from the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds, but her trainer, Bernie Flint, said nothing is wrong with the filly and that she would be rerouted to the Feb. 23 Rachel Alexandra Stakes.
“I was only going to run her two times at this meet; that was the plan all along,” Flint told Fair Grounds publicity staff.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Ramon Dominguez suffered a fractured skull after being involved in a spill during the running of Friday's seventh race at Aqueduct, according to his agent Steve Rushing. Dominguez remained hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition on Friday night.
It was unclear how long he would be hospitalized and when he would be able to ride again. Before the results of a CAT scan revealed the skull fracture, Dominguez had originally been diagnosed with a bruise over his right eye.
The high-class turf filly Dayatthespa, who was injured in the Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park 1 1/2 months ago, has returned to light training at Palm Meadows in south Florida for trainer Chad Brown, who said he hopes to have her back for the Keeneland meeting in April.
Dayatthespa propped when rounding the first turn of the Matriarch, and emerged from the race with a laceration on her left hip, and a wound to her right front tendon that required stitches.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Patrick Biancone is taking a realistic approach to starting Switch to the Lead against Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Beholder in Monday’s $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes.
“She’s ready, but I don’t think we can beat the other filly,” Biancone said.
Owned by Kona Stable, Switch to the Lead was second to Unusual Way in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Sprint Preview over seven furlongs Nov. 3, her best result in a stakes. Last summer, Switch to the Lead was third in the Sorrento Stakes behind Eclipse Award finalist Executiveprivilege.
Data Link, winner of the Grade 1 Makers 46 Mile in 2012, worked a bullet three furlongs in 36.20 seconds at Payson Park in southe Florida on Friday. It was his second work since shipping to south Florida from the West Coast following his victory in the Grade 2 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park on Nov. 23.
Trainer Shug McGaughey said Data Link is doing very well since returning from California and will make his 2013 debut in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream on Feb. 23.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Eblouissante, a half-sister to Zenyatta, is bound for a graded stakes in March after winning an optional claimer at Santa Anita on Thursday to remain unbeaten in two starts.
Friday, trainer John Shirreffs said that Eblouissante, 4, will be considered for the $300,000 Santa Margarita Stakes, a Grade 1 for fillies and mares over 1 1/8 miles here March 16. The race could lead to a start in the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 12.
“The Santa Margarita is the one that we’ll look at,” Shirreffs said.
Leading Kentucky Oaks candidate Pure Fun returned to trainer Ken McPeek’s stable in Florida this past week after a freshening, and he said she could launch her 3-year-old season in the Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn on March 9. McPeek also has a division at Oaklawn.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jeff Runco has been very selective over the years when it comes to shipping to New York from his West Virginia base for a stakes race.
While his success rate hasn’t been great – he is just 1 for 7 – his horses have usually run well, with four of the seven finishing in the top three.
Monday, Runco will ship up In the Fairway to run in the $75,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct. The Jimmy Winkfield, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds, is the featured event on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day card.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Officer Alex will run Monday in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park, and he has more than just a few things in common with the race’s namesake. Officer Alex is a Pennsylvania-bred, like Smarty Jones. He also is wintering at Oaklawn, won the Pennsylvania Nursery as a 2-year-old, and his regular rider is Stewart Elliott.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – After an easy couple of months since his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, Fort Larned got back to serious work on Friday morning at the Palm Meadows training center here, and if his first drill of 2013 is any indication, he is coming back just as good as he left in 2012.
Fort Larned breezed an easy half-mile in 48.40 seconds, without being asked at all, then impressed further with his gallop-out. According to head clocker Bryan Walls, Fort Larned went out five furlongs in 1:00.80, and continued out six furlongs in 1:14.
