With a bevy of tweaks to purses, calendar placement, and the elimination of five stakes, the New York Racing Association on Wednesday released the 2023 Belmont Park spring/summer stakes schedule.
A total of 54 stakes worth $15.575 million in purses will be offered during the 40-day meet that runs from May 4 through July 9. Last year, there were 59 stakes worth $16.95 million offered over 44 days.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita may add Friday programs on Feb. 24 and April 21 to the racing schedule in coming months to compensate for two days of racing lost to inclement weather over the weekend, track officials said on Sunday.
The track has already carded an additional day of racing on Friday this week. The track has lost three days of racing to rain this month, including Jan. 1.
Zydeceaux earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure and Opus Forty Two a 76 in their respective photo-finish victories Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in twin seven-furlong races for 3-year-olds, the $125,000 Pasco and $50,000 Gasparilla.
Zydeceaux held off favored Champions Dream in the Pasco some 90 minutes before Opus Forty Two prevailed in a very tight photo over Charlie’s Wish in the Gasparilla. Between those races, Tap Dance Fever edged Pass the Champagne by a head in the $50,000 Wayward Lass, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, earning an 89 Beyer.
With 2022 in the books and a divisional Eclipse Award all but certain for Wonder Wheel, trainer Mark Casse is eyeing the Suncoast on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., as a potential comeback spot for the standout filly.
“Right now, it’s part of the plan,” Casse said. “I want to see how she trains and I don’t want to rush her, but her first work back was really good.”
The 88th running of the historic Prince of Wales Stakes has been scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 12, at Fort Erie, with a tentative post time of 3 p.m. for the border oval’s marquee card.
The $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, a 1 3/16-mile dirt route for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, is the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. It follows the $1 million King’s Plate on Aug. 20 and proceeds the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes in October, both at Woodbine.
Brad Cox is starting to seem like the Bob Baffert of the Midwest. Baffert for years, and in 2022-23 especially, has a barn brimming with young stakes-class dirt horses, and right now, Cox’s strings also are bulging with 3-year-old prospects.
There Goes Harvard, the winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita last May, is nearing a comeback after recovering from an illness diagnosed last summer.
Trained by Michael McCarthy for Michael and Jennifer Cannon, There Goes Harvard has not raced since he finished last of nine in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar last July.
“He was really sick after the San Diego,” McCarthy said.
Last January, Stilleto Boy was a 26-1 outsider when he finished third behind 4-5 favorite Life Is Good and 9-10 second choice Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park.
On Jan. 28, Stilleto Boy is scheduled to start again in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup. This year, the 5-year-old Stilleto Boy has had a different preparation schedule.
Stilleto Boy has had only one start in the last four months, finishing second to Country Grammer in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- King Angelo and Awesome Native, older New York-bred males, posted impressive wins on back-to-back days for trainer Jorge Abreu, who enjoyed a run of five winners from seven starts at Aqueduct over the last month.
On Friday, the 6-year-old King Angelo won a first-level open allowance by 5 3/4 lengths, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. It was the second straight solid run from King Angelo since Abreu moved him to the dirt from turf.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Just eight days after finishing second in the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, Arctic Arrogance returned to the work tab Sunday morning at Belmont Park, breezing a half-mile in 50.47 seconds in preparation for a start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 4.
Trainer Linda Rice said she worked Arctic Arrogance so soon after his last race because he’s been a difficult horse to keep weight off and that he missed a workout leading up to the Jerome, something Rice felt may have hampered him in the race.
