NEW ORLEANS – Winter in New Orleans always has brought out the best in Cash Refund. The 6-year-old gelding has 7 wins and 3 seconds among his 17 career starts; five of those wins and two of the seconds have come at Fair Grounds.
“The horse just loves it here,” said trainer Steve Margolis.
[bc_video_id:247466:]NEW ORLEANS – The question is what the heck did trainer Dallas Stewart think he was pulling in the 2009 New Orleans Handicap, won by the Stewart-trained Macho Again. The New Orleans Handicap – that’s Todd Pletcher’s race.
Pletcher won the race in 2007 with Master Command, in 2008 with Circular Quay, in 2010 with Battle Plan, and last year with Mission Impazible. Five seasons, four winners, and Pletcher has a great chance to make it five for six when Mission Impazible attempts to win for the second straight year in Sunday’s race.
Acclamation, the champion older male of 2011, is likely to make his 2012 debut in the $100,000 Inglewood Handicap over 1 1/8 miles on turf at Hollywood Park on April 27, trainer Don Warren said.
Acclamation worked six furlongs in 1:13.80 on Thursday. “It was a little faster than I wanted,” Warren said.
Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, will be entered for the $150,000 Potrero Grande Stakes next Saturday. Then trainer Bill Spawr plans to begin monitoring racing conditions.
The winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs last November, Amazombie was third in his only start this year, behind The Factor in the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes over seven furlongs on Feb. 25.
Friday, Amazombie worked six furlongs in 1:13.40. Spawr timed Amazombie in 11 seconds the last furlong.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Miss Montreal began her career on a good note, finishing second in her debut before switching to turf and stretching out around two turns to break her maiden impressively earlier this winter. But even her trainer, David Braddy, admits he’s still not certain what to expect when bringing Miss Montreal back against winners in Sunday’s $62,750 allowance headliner at Gulfstream Park carded at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stand in one place long enough on a typical raceday at Santa Anita and chances are a thin, 6-foot-tall man will roll by in a dark suit and fedora, trailed by a few colleagues, shaking hands with nearly everyone in his path and proving impossible to ignore.
The whirlwind of activity surrounds Mark Verge, new chief executive officer at Santa Anita, a 44-year-old native of Southern California, and a horse owner for 15 years.
NEW ORLEANS – It’s a fair assumption that only a handful of racing fans were even tuned into the seventh race on Monday, July 12, 2011 at Delaware Park. And it’s also fair to assume that none of them could have imagined the long-range implications of that maiden race on the Kentucky Derby trail this spring.
[bc_video_id:247458:]Last year in the Mervin Muniz Jr. Memorial, the Final Four were separated by margins of a nose, head, and neck. Smart Bid, ridden by Edgar Prado, beat the buzzer by getting to the line first in a wild scramble truly befitting a horse-racing version of March Madness.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Mallard Man has had one objective since last April – a repeat win in the Arkansas Breeders’ at Oaklawn Park. He stormed home by three lengths in the 1 1/16-mile race a year ago, and on Sunday will take on the five-time stakes-winning filly All About Allie in defense of his title in the $60,000 race for 3-year-olds and up bred in Arkansas.
“This is the race we’ve had circled since last year,” said Al Cates, who trains The Mallard Man for the Arkansas-based partnership of Five Star Racing Stable.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mucho Macho Man has become one of the elite members of the handicap division following impressive victories here at Gulfstream Park this winter in the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic – in which he defeated the subsequent Santa Anita Handicap winner, Ron the Greek – and the Gulfstream Park Handicap. And as such, a horse other members of the division may look to avoid whenever feasible as the season continues to unfold.
