ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Gail Tiller, the wife of long-time Woodbine trainer Robert Tiller, died last Sunday in Toronto General Hospital. The 61-year-old had been battling cancer.
The Tillers were married for 42 years, and Gail was present for many of the stable’s major wins, including the remarkable run by five-time Canadian champion male sprinter and 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Kangaroo Court, the easy winner of a maiden special weight race for California-breds at Del Mar in August, will miss the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile at Santa Anita on Oct. 29.
Trained by Tim Yakteen, Kangaroo Court was scratched from the $125,000 I’m Smokin Stakes for statebred 2-year-olds at Del Mar on Sept. 9 because of a minor injury.
“We’ll let him tell us when he’s ready to come back,” Yakteen said on Sunday. “He’s a nice horse and we want to be conservative. You want them to be right.”
The waiting game is on for the people surrounding Lane Way, an outside candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 5.
Lane Way worked three furlongs in 34 seconds at Santa Anita on Monday, his first workout since a game second in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course on Oct. 1.
But a loss by three-quarters of a length in the Eddie D Stakes has hampered Lane Way’s chances of a start in the $1 million BC Turf Sprint at 5 1/2 furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Ian Kruljac was fined $1,000 by Santa Anita stewards on Sunday for recent discourteous behavior toward a member of the state veterinary staff, according to a ruling published by track stewards.
The incident, which involved profanity in an email, occurred at Del Mar in August and was Kruljac’s fourth infraction for disorderly conduct.
Kruljac has been ordered to undergo evaluation by the Winners Foundation regarding anger management issues and sign a testing agreement with the California Horse Racing Board, according to the ruling.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The penny-breakage rules that went into effect on the Kentucky circuit on July 8 have translated into more than $1.1 million in additional winnings to horseplayers, according to a Monday release from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation based in Lexington.
The $1.1 million figure only stems from win-place-show wagering at Thoroughbred meets, and no exotic wagers. Penny breakage is the first of its kind in North American racing and was part of a broader racing-related tax package approved earlier this year by the Kentucky legislature.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Spooky Channel won back-to-back turf stakes last fall, ending with the Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland, but now the stretch-running gelding has yet to race in more than a year.
“He came up with a little tendon injury when we were getting him ready for a race at Fair Grounds,” said trainer Jason Barkley. “It did not require surgery, and we just let him heal up naturally. We’ll probably start him back early at Fair Grounds.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A pair of 3-year-old fillies trained by John Terranova arrived before dawn Monday at Keeneland to take on some of their more accomplished classmates in what’s shaping up as a terrific renewal Saturday of the Grade 2, $350,000 Raven Run.
Midnight Stroll and Union Lake were vanned overnight from their New York base, said Terranova, who will be on hand Saturday for the seven-furlong Raven Run.
“They both settled in great,” said Terranova. “I think we’ve got a couple of fillies with some real quality to them.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jackie’s Warrior, the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, went an easy half-mile in 49.53 seconds early Monday, capping a busy stretch for Breeders’ Cup workers at Keeneland.
Jackie’s Warrior was one of a handful of BC hopefuls trained by Steve Asmussen to work during that recent span. In five-furlong works Sunday, Epicenter (BC Classic) went in 1:00.20; Echo Zulu (Filly and Mare Sprint) went in 1:02.80 in company; Grand Love (Juvenile Fillies) went in 1:00.60 in company; and Clariere and Society breezed alongside each other in 59.80 toward the Distaff.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The fall meet at Keeneland doesn’t reach its midpoint until Wednesday, but already two of the most successful stables on the continent have satisfied their primary goals for the meet.
Between them, Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown have accounted for all but one of the meet’s six Grade 1 races – all of them run during the first seven cards at a front-loaded 17-day meet – with Pletcher winning three and Brown two.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, who has not ridden since January, recently completed a 60-day suspension issued by Del Mar stewards in August related to an altercation at an RV park at Del Mar last fall.
While Desormeaux’s short-term plans regarding a potential return to riding are unclear, he has been suspended eight racing days in coming weeks after losing appeals of two penalties issued at Del Mar for causing interference in summer 2021.
