ARCADIA, Calif. – California state veterinarians ordered Midwest shipper Scarlet Fusion scratched from Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap after they were unsatisfied with a pre-race inspection Friday at Santa Anita.
Trainer Joe Sharp confirmed the scratch.
“The state vets took him out [Friday]. They weren’t happy with the way he jogged. My personal vet was happy with the horse, and we were happy with the horse, but they had some concerns so they opted to take him out.”
Del Mar has increased purses for maiden races and some allowance races for its 31-day summer meeting, which runs from from July 21 to Sept. 10.
Purses for maiden races have been raised to $82,000, from $70,000 in 2021 and $80,000 last summer, according to racing secretary David Jerkens.
A first-condition allowance race will be worth $83,000, compared to $72,000 in 2021 and $82,000 in 2022.
Jockey Joe Bravo has hired Brian Beach as his agent, Bravo and Beach said on Thursday.
Agent Matt Nakatani and Bravo parted ways last week when Nakatani began working on behalf of Umberto Rispoli.
This is the first time that Beach will book mounts for Bravo, who relocated from his home state of New Jersey to Southern California in the summer of 2021. Through Thursday, Bravo, 51, was tied for 10th with eight wins at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which began on Dec. 26.
Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment has extended its presenting sponsorship of Turfway’s Park most significant Kentucky Derby prep race for an additional five years, the parent company of Turfway, Churchill Downs Inc., announced Thursday.
The extension will make Jeff Ruby the sponsor of the namesake stakes, a $700,000 race for 3-year-olds held annually approximately six weeks prior to the Kentucky Derby, through 2028. This year’s running of the Jeff Ruby Steaks is scheduled for March 25.
Arctic Arrogance, who accrued 16 Kentucky Derby points by running second in the Grade 2 Remsen, Jerome and Grade 3 Withers, will miss Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes due to illness.
Owner Chester Broman said he was informed that there is an illness going through the barn that Arctic Arrogance is stabled in on the Belmont Park backstretch. Arctic Arrogance is trained by Linda Rice, but she was on 10-day suspension through Wednesday and could not be at the barn. Her nephew Adam Rice has been overseeing the stable.
Henry Q established himself as the early favorite for the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby when he obliterated his rivals in Tuesday’s local stepping-stone, the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby.
Henry Q led at every point of call for a 14 3/4-length victory – and the margin was not the only impressive part of his performance. Henry Q covered 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in a quick 1:41.52, earning a solid 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey sounded pessimistic about the chances of running General Jim in the Fountain of Youth Stakes after the colt missed a scheduled workout.
“He had a little cough and missed a day of training,” McGaughey said in his Gulfstream stable office Wednesday morning. “He’s back training, but I’m not sure whether we’re running. I’ve just been playing it by the day.”
While John Shirreffs trains West Coast-based Kentucky Derby prospect Skinner, he is intimately familiar with the dam of an emerging Derby prospect in the Midwest. Shirreffs trained Eblouissante, dam of Rebel Stakes winner Confidence Game. Eblouissante was a younger sibling to the mighty Zenyatta.
“I do remember Eblouissante, very well,” Shirreffs said, reciting her race record from memory. “Eblouissante won two races, she broke her maiden and won an allowance, and then I ran her at Saratoga.”
Though he won the 2021 Preakness with his first Preakness starter, Rombauer, it is a reach to suggest trainer Michael McCarthy can win the Kentucky Derby with his first Derby starter. And yet, neither Lugan Knight nor Genius Jimmy can be ruled out yet.
Lugan Knight runs Saturday in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, where a good effort may lead to the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 8 at Keeneland. Lugan Knight, who might be a sprinter, won his maiden at Keeneland last fall.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Except for the stories and laughter from trainer Bill Spawr’s office, barn 37 at Santa Anita was unusually quiet this week.
Spawr can spin a tale, such as the old-time gypsy trainers who were Spawr’s racetrack neighbors and buried their gambling proceeds inside coffee cans in dirt stalls at Santa Anita. Or the time a filly Spawr had claimed for $50,000 beat Charlie Whittingham in a Grade 1 at Hollywood Park.
