OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Irad Ortiz Jr.’s attempt at setting North America’s single-year record for stakes wins stalled last week when he went 0 for 10 in stakes conducted at Aqueduct. Ortiz entered the Thanksgiving weekend stakes-fest with 76 stakes victories, tied with Garrett Gomez, who set the record in 2007.
Ortiz had a couple of second-place finishes, including aboard Highest Honors in Saturday’s Grade 2 Red Smith.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Parx-based trainer Butch Reid hopes Eloquist’s nose victory in Sunday’s $150,000 Discovery Stakes is just the start of a big week for him in New York stakes.
Reid will be back at Aqueduct on Saturday with Foggy Night in the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies and Dr B in the Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand for fillies and mares.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For a horse that’s won 10 stakes, including two Grade 1s at Saratoga, Mind Control seems a bit underappreciated. As he prepares to make the final start of his highly successful career in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, his connections do not yet have a deal for the 6-year-old’s breeding rights.
“We have not finalized plans to stand him,” said Rick Sacco, racing manager for the Brunetti family’s Red Oak Stable, which owns the horse with Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was a disappointing sixth and last in the Clark for an apparent reason.
“He came out of the race with a pretty serious guttural-pouch infection, about a 4 out of 5,” trainer Eric Reed said. “I hate to make excuses, but that’s the reality of it. He was just full of yellow and green. No blood, so we were glad about that.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Luis Saez, riding his first full Churchill Downs meet, was the leading jockey with 23 wins, two more than Tyler Gaffalione. Saez rode six winners Saturday, one shy of the Churchill record held jointly by Pat Day (1984) and Julien Leparoux (2009). Gaffalione had four winners Sunday to narrow the gap.
At Keeneland in October, Saez also edged Gaffalione by a 21-20 count. Both jockeys will make Gulfstream Park in Florida their winter base, with Saez resuming action there Sunday when named in eight races.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Seven of the nine stakes winners during the final week of the Churchill Downs fall meet will be stabled at Fair Grounds this winter, not to mention a substantial number of horses who won allowance and maiden races during the same span.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Spun Intended will probably start around two turns in his 3-year-old debut in 2023 after an attractive win in a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday at Del Mar.
Ridden by Mike Smith, Spun Intended disputed the early pace before pulling clear by 6 1/2 lengths. Spun Intended was timed in 1:15.83 and earned an 87 Beyer Speed Figure.
The race was Spun Intended’s second start after a second-place finish in a similar
DEL MAR, Calif. – The retirement of Avenue de France has been postponed until after Sunday’s Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar.
Avenue de France was scheduled to be sold at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale last month, but was withdrawn from the sale after she finished fifth in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes on Oct. 29 at Santa Anita. The loss ended a streak of five first- or second-place finishes in stakes for the 5-year-old mare.
Keith Doleshel, the racing secretary for the New York Racing Association, has appealed a $2,000 fine issued to him by the New York State Gaming Commission in October for “failing to conduct business in a professional manner.”
“Anyone who knows Keith Doleshel knows that during his tenure at NYRA and prior he’s always conducted his business in a professional manner,” said Drew Mollica, Doleshel’s attorney. “The scarlet letter of unprofessionalism cannot stand, so he must appeal.”
DEL MAR, Calif. - Phil D’Amato and John Shirreffs had remarkably similar reactions on Sunday morning to the manner in which their horses ran in Saturday’s Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar.
Both were left with highly favorable impressions of performances by race winner Hong Kong Harry, trained by D’Amato, and second-place finisher Beyond Brilliant, trained by Shirreffs.
Hong Kong Harry won his third stakes of the year in the $251,500 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles, closing from fifth in a field of eight to win by a neck over Beyond Brilliant.
