OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mark Casse hopes talent trumps experience when it comes to running Stealcase in Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
Stealcase will enter Saturday’s Gotham with only a maiden win from three starts on his r é sum é , but Casse said the son of Lawyer Ron was his top-rated 2-year-old of 2011, a year in which he won 31 races with juveniles.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Chris Englehart has enjoyed another successful winter at Aqueduct to the point where, with five weeks remaining, he is in contention for leading trainer honors at the inner-track meet.
Entering Wednesday’s card, Englehart has 25 wins from 133 starters, placing him third behind Richard Dutrow Jr. (29 for 78) and David Jacobson (27 for 114).
Englehart, who is the 21st leading trainer of all time with 3,125 career victories, has two runners at Aqueduct on Wednesday’s nine-race program who both appear live in their respective races.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – That the betting favorite in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes was 4-1 indicated how wide open the race was, and when the smoke cleared, a four-horse photo produced a $59.40 winner and four 10-cent superfecta tickets worth $14,174 each.
Roman Tiger, with jockey Angel Serpa putting up a rail-skimming ride for trainer Dennis Manning, got through along the inside into the stretch and then outgamed a host of rivals through a wild stretch run to be up in the final strides by a nose.[bc_video_id:244954:]
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainers Bill Mott and Roger Attfield said neither was disappointed in the 2012 debuts of their Breeders’ Cup winners Royal Delta and Perfect Shirl in stakes races here this weekend.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- Union Rags stood in his paddock located behind the barn area at Palm Meadows training center early Monday morning vigorously attacking a flake of hay while his trainer, Michael Matz, looked on. It may be one of the last peaceful moments the pair will get to spend between now and Kentucky Derby day.
NEW ORLEANS – Thiskyhasnolimit, who suffered a career-ending injury in the Mineshaft Handicap at Fair Grounds on Saturday, had surgery to fuse his fractured right front fetlock and was “resting comfortably” Monday, according to trainer Steve Asmussen.
“He’s being a very good patient,” Asmussen said Monday. “We’re cautiously optimistic.”
Asmussen said Drs. Laura Riggs and Dan Burba of Louisiana State University performed the surgery at LSU.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – Kool Million, who made his career debut Dec. 30, overcame a stumble at the start to win Sunday’s $151,750 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes, the richest running of the unique race for 3-year-old Quarter Horses.
The 350-yard Maiden Stakes is restricted to horses who were nonwinners as of Dec. 1, 2011.
Ramon Dominguez, winner of Eclipse Awards as the nation’s outstanding rider in 2010 and 2011, has been named the 2012 recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, Santa Anita announced Sunday.
Dominguez, 35, is expected to receive the award in the second half of March. The Woolf honors riders for success on the racetrack and personal character. He was one of five finalists for the 2012 award, along with Corey Lanerie, Martin Pedroza, DeShawn Parker, and Scott Stevens.
ARCADIA, Calif. - There is a pick six carryover of $135,405 for Thursday’s eight-race program at Santa Anita after a string of longshots were successful on Sunday.
Wins by Smart Spending ($30) and Tones ($29.40) in the seventh and eighth races on Sunday made the bet too difficult to hit. Going into the final leg, there were two horses covered in the pick six – All the Love and Desperate Measures. They finished third and fifth
