Unlike many successful Southern California-based turf sprinters, Beer Can Man is not a fixture in stakes on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course.
Beer Can Man was third in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the course in February 2022 when ridden by jockey Flavien Prat, his only appearance on the unique course.
“Flavien thought he was better on the flat than the hill,” trainer Phil D’Amato said on Thursday.
Endlessly, who overcame trouble to win his debut in a maiden race at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Sunday, is likely to have his second start in the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf at the same distance Sept. 10, closing day of the track’s summer meeting.
“It looks like the right spot,” trainer Michael McCarthy said on Wednesday.
Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Endlessly raced in traffic in early stretch before rallying between rivals to win by 2 1/4 lengths for Amerman Racing.
The Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, Calif., begins a two-week race meeting on Thursday, the only venue of the five racing fairs in Northern California with a turf course.
The course will be in action extensively through the seven-day meeting, which runs from Thursday through Sunday this week and from Aug. 11-13.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Ricky Griffith, a former jockey and trainer in Ontario, died Aug. 1 at age 58 after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“He went peacefully in his sleep, at home with his family,” said trainer Ted Holder, a life-long friend of Griffith’s.
A native of Barbados, Griffith rode in Ontario from 1985 to 1998 and won 494 races during that time. He won nine stakes, including the 1992 Shady Well on Sermon Time and the 1995 Cup and Saucer aboard Crown Attorney.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Charge It won the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes by 23 lengths last summer, there was a belief he could find his way into the mix for divisional honors in the 3-year-old division.
It never happened.
A foot abscess forced him to miss the Travers Stakes and prompted his connections to shut him down for the remainder of the year.
When Charge It won an allowance race at Gulfstream Park to kick off his 4-year-old season, there was a belief it was the start of him becoming a force in the older male dirt division.
It hasn’t happened yet.
Purses are set to average a record $900,000 a card during the Oaklawn Park meet that opens Dec. 8, the Hot Springs, Ark., track announced Wednesday. The 66-date meet will run through May 4.
The new level puts the value of maiden special weight races at $115,000 after being worth $90,000, and first-level allowances at $140,000 after being worth $105,000. The allowance categories will go up in value to $145,000, while the minimum purse will be $30,000.
Turf Paradise in Phoenix does not anticipate running any live race dates in the final quarter of 2023, according to track officials.
The track announced on Tuesday that Turf would not open on the first weekend of November, as has been traditional over the past several decades, and Vince Francia, the track’s longtime general manager, said in an interview after the release was issued that it was extremely unlikely the track would hold live dates before the end of the year.
Raise Cain and Lord Miles, who each won a Kentucky Derby prep at Aqueduct, were among an overflow field of 14 horses entered Tuesday in the Grade 3, $500,000 West Virginia Derby. The 1 1/8-mile race will be run Sunday night at Mountaineer Park.
The maximum gate for the field is 12, leaving Russian Hammer and Knockout Guy as also-eligibles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - West Will Power, winner of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs, has been retired from racing due to a soft tissue injury, trainer Brad Cox said in a text message Tuesday.
West Will Power had been under consideration for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes. West Will Power was diagnosed with the injury after he worked five furlongs in 1:02.24 over the Oklahoma training track on Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bill Mott used to be obsessed with being leading trainer. While, he’s still obsessed with winning, it’s now all about winning the right races, not the most races.
Mott again demonstrated his prowess for winning the right races this weekend at Saratoga when he captured Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt with Elite Power and then came back 24 hours later to win the Grade 2 Bowling Green with the 9-year-old Channel Maker.
Mott has won six races at the meet, four have been stakes.
