The Aqueduct stewards would not permit Jeffrey Sanchez to ride his one mount, Final Mesa, in Friday’s $75,000 Bold Brat Stakes, due to an incident that occurred last spring in France. He was replaced by Ariel Smith.
Final Mesa, who set the pace, finished sixth to Dontbeshy I’ll Buy, a 12-1 shot.
According to Brian Morgan, Sanchez’s agent, French racing officials fined Sanchez approximately $1,000 after he failed a drug test when he was riding there last spring for trainer Wesley Ward.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The mutuel field closed as a slight 3-1 favorite over the top individually listed option, Union Rags, when Pool 2 of the 2012 Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Union Rags, an impressive winner of the Fountain of Youth in his seasonal debut Feb. 26, was the 4-1 second choice, followed by Hansen (9-1), El Padrino (12-1), Creative Cause (17-1), Alpha (18-1), Fed Biz (22-1), and I’ll Have Another (22-1). Out of Bounds, who closed at 23-1, broke down Monday morning and is off the Triple Crown trail.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The last time Barry Schwartz remembers running a horse in the Wood Memorial was in 1980 when Degenerate Jon finished fourth, one position behind Genuine Risk.
Two weeks later, Genuine Risk would win the Kentucky Derby while Schwartz’s Degenerate Jon finished eighth.
Schwartz hopes to make it back to the Wood – and perhaps the Derby – this year with the lightly raced The Lumber Guy, who coming off a victory in the seven-furlong Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel on Feb. 25 is being pointed to the $1 million Wood at Aqueduct on April 7.
Fair Grounds has scheduled a fundraiser to benefit former jockey E.J. Perrodin, who was found with brain cancer just days after announcing his retirement from the saddle.
Central Louisiana native Perrodin, 55, retired from riding in early February after winning more than 3,000 races. At the time, he said that he had “a weird feeling,” and days later, Perrodin was found with stage 4 cancer in his brain.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Nerves will be high when Dancing in Silks, winless in eight starts since the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, starts for the first time since July in Sunday’s $70,000 Joe Hernandez Handicap at Santa Anita.
“I’ve got a knot in my stomach because a lot of people are watching,” said trainer Anthony Saavedra.
Owned by Ken Kinakin, Dancing in Silks, 7, has been with Saavedra’s stable since last fall, after the gelding returned to the racetrack.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The mad pace battle that foiled Mr Gruff last out is not likely to recur Sunday at Santa Anita, where the horse-for-turf-course sprinter is the deserving favorite in the $70,000 Joe Hernandez Handicap.
Sunday's card will feature a meet-high pick-six carryover of $430,582 as the bet went unhit both Friday and Saturday.
Although Mr Gruff has won 5 of 7 on the Santa Anita hill, trainer Ron Ellis sensed trouble Jan. 8 in the Grade 3 Daytona when rival Regally Ready went after Mr Gruff early.
The richest race run on Sunday’s nine-race program at Aqueduct is the first, featuring a match-up between Joe Vann and Rush Now, a pair of stakes-winning 3-year-olds from 2011 making their 4-year-old debuts in a $71,000 third-level allowance race.
Joe Vann, trained by Todd Pletcher, is 3 for 12, having recorded all three wins in a 55-day span last winter/spring capped by a front-running victory in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne.
Mucho Macho Man had his final major tune-up for next Saturday’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap when working five furlongs from the half-mile to mile pole in 58.80 seconds early Friday morning. Mucho Macho Man, winner of the Sunshine Millions Classic to launch his 4-year-old season, posted splits of 23.80 and 46.60 for his opening quarter and half.
“He’s doing great, he couldn’t be coming up to the race any better,” trainer Kathy Ritvo said.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – The professional theme of 2011 was one of frustration for Los Alamitos-based trainer Jose Antonio Flores. He ended the year without a major stakes win, but it was not for a lack of trying.
“I qualified to everything last year,” he said.
