OLDSMAR, Fla. – Gibson, undefeated in two Tampa Bay turf sprints, faces the stiffest turf test of his career Saturday when he faces nine turf rivals in the $75,000 Tampa Turf Dash at five furlongs on the grass.
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DRF Past Performances
Sword Trick has a new attitude – at least toward rating. And that newfound maturity should serve him well Saturday night when he attempts to win at two turns in the $100,000 Jim’s Orbit division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.
The Jim’s Orbit will share a card with the $100,000 Two Altazano division of the Stallion Stakes for fillies. Both one-mile races are for 3-year-olds.
About 48 hours after he brings his Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom back to the races, trainer Graham Motion will do the same with his other Grade 1-winning 3-year-old colt from last year, Toby’s Corner.
Toby’s Corner, unraced since upsetting Uncle Mo in the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct last April, will make his return to the races in Monday’s Grade 2, $200,000 General George Handicap at Laurel Park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tiz Miz Sue will be out for revenge Saturday in the $100,000 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park. She was part of a vicious stretch battle with Absinthe Minded in last month’s $75,000 Pippin and ended up second when her front-running rival surged again late. The rematch is on in the Bayakoa, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for fillies and mares that serves as a stepping-stone to the Apple Blossom Handicap.
Though Mike Hushion isn’t normally one to run his horses back on short rest, the veteran trainer sounds almost giddy about running Nicole H in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park just two weeks after her last start.
“This is one case where I’m really loving it,” Hushion said Thursday morning outside his Belmont Park barn. “You see her out there, you see how big and round she’s getting. Two weeks and a nice half-mile work to go seven-eighths, I really like it.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Suggestive Boy, widely considered Argentina’s top horse of 2011, is the latest South American star to arrive at trainer Ron McAnally’s stable at Santa Anita.
Suggestive Boy won four Group 1 races in Argentina in 2011 – the Gran Premio Raul y Raul Chevlier, the Gran Premio Estrellas Juvenile, the Argentine 2000 Guineas, and Gran Premio Jockey Club. Owned by Jose Cerrillo of Mexico, Suggestive Boy went through quarantine in Florida and arrived in Southern California last Sunday, McAnally said.
Deniro was the surprise winner, and fastest qualifier, in time trials on Jan. 28 for Saturday’s $197,700 Los Alamitos Winter Derby for Quarter Horses.
With a modest record at 2 in the Pacific Northwest, Deniro had little trouble adapting to the perceived tougher racing circuit in Southern California. Now, the gelding must do it all over again in Saturday’s 400-yard final.
Owned by Shane O’Leary and trained by Ugo de la Torre, Deniro has drawn the outside post in a field of 10 in the Winter Derby, a race that lacks a major stakes winner from 2011.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- Animal Kingdom used an allowance race on the turf at Gulfstream Park last winter as a stepping-stone to his victory in the 2011 Kentucky Derby and trainer Graham Motion has selected a higher-level optional claiming/allowance race over the grass here Saturday as his one and only prep for an even bigger payday six weeks down the road in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There were 11 1/2 lengths between Ellafitz and Vision in Gold at the finish of the minor Paseana Handicap at Santa Anita on Jan. 15.
The win gave Ellafitz her second consecutive victory. She will be favored in Saturday’s $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes over 1 1/16 miles. The loss by Vision in Gold left trainer Ron Ellis disappointed, but anxious for the Santa Maria, which Vision in Gold won in 2011.
“I think she needed the race last time,” Ellis said. “That’s the only reason I can come up with.
“She’s doing awesome. She’s trained really well.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Marilyn’s Guy may not be fully cranked in his first start in almost 11 months. He may not have to be at his optimum to win Saturday’s $75,000 As Indicated Stakes at Aqueduct.
Marilyn’s Guy faces just four rivals – including the streaking San Pablo – in the As Indicated, which supplanted the scrapped Stymie as the feature on Saturday’s 10-race program at Aqueduct. With only five entrants, the As Indicated, at one mile, will go as race 4, keeping it out of the pick six.