ARCADIA, Calif. – Regally Ready, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs last November, is bound for the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint on the Dubai World Cup program on March 31.
Part of trainer Steve Asmussen’s California division this winter, Regally Ready worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 on Saturday, his second-to-last workout before being shipped to Dubai on Feb. 26.
L G Jet will try to cap an undefeated season at Portland Meadows on Monday with a victory in the $20,000 Oregon Thoroughbred Breeders Derby.
L G Jet, a son of Harbor the Gold, has scored three straight victories here, including a wire-to-wire score in the six-furlong Bill Wineberg on Dec. 11. Saturday’s race at one mile will be his first around two turns.
The distance is no concern to L G Jet’s trainer John Harris. L G Jet’s breeding suggests he’ll handle the distance with runners such as Buckpasser and Northern Dancer in his pedigree.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The toughest competition he had faced to date combined with a less-than-stellar trip added up to the worst performance of Dr Disco’s career in the Grade 3 Toboggan on Feb. 4.
In hopes of erasing that memory sooner than later, trainer Bruce Brown and owner Joseph Dirico have elected to wheel the speedy colt back in 16 days in Monday’s $75,000 Hollie Hughes Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association announced Friday that it will institute two new policies in an attempt to provide safer racing conditions.
First, NYRA will begin enforcing a house rule that will allow P.J. Campo, the director of racing, Anthony Verderosa, the chief examining vet, the right to refuse entry of a horse with which “they have any nature of concern.”
Second, when racing returns to the main track, the bottom claiming level will be raised from $7,500 to $10,000 and then to $12,500 when Belmont opens on April 27.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Bruce Brown will send out the uncoupled entry of Be Bullish and Dr Disco in Monday’s $75,000 Hollie Hughes for New York-breds, the featured event on a nine-race President’s Day card at Aqueduct. Be Bullish won this race last year when in the barn of Richard Dutrow Jr.
Brown and owner Thomas La Marca claimed Be Bullish, a 7-year-old gelding, for $50,000 on Jan. 25, a race he won by one length.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There were more than a few raised eyebrows, some Internet chatter, and backstretch banter regarding David Jacobson’s claim of Thisskysabeauty from Andrew Lakeman on Thursday.
Thisskysabeauty was the first horse Lakeman – the former jockey who was paralyzed in a spill in May 2007 – ever trained and just one of two horses in his care. Thisskysabeauty gave Lakeman his first win as a trainer last Thanksgiving Day.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Gleaming is developing into a female sprinter of note. She has won two stakes in her last three starts, and for one of those wins earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 92. Sunday, Gleaming will be out to build on the success, when she takes on eight other fillies and mares in the $60,000 Spring Fever.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Creative Cause does not have to win his comeback Sunday at Santa Anita. The goal, after all, is 1 1/4 miles in May, rather than a sprint in February.
Trainer Mike Harrington downplays the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes, but the implications are unmistakable. The seven-furlong race is the first start for Creative Cause since a third-place finish Nov. 5 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
The ride starts over Sunday against five rivals in the San Vicente.
Here's my race-by-race rundown of Saturday's pick five at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 18, 2012. I'm building my wager with TicketMaker, found exclusively on DRF.com. Keep in mind that the total cost for this play is likely to drop, given the inclusion of several also eligibles (AE) as "A" plays.
Game On Dude, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs last November, worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds Friday, his first workout since a win in the San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 5.
Trainer Bob Baffert said that Game On Dude will make his next start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3, a race the gelding won in 2011, or the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31.
“I want to wait and see the weights come out,” he said of the Big Cap. “I’ve got to keep an open mind. It’s $750,000 versus $10 million.”
