HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Though he may no longer be undefeated, Hansen, the recently crowned 2-year-old champion of 2011, remains on the Triple Crown trail with a likely next start coming in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 26.
Trainer Mike Maker said Monday that, despite stumbling at the start, Hansen came out of his second-place finish to Algorithms in Sunday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Holy Bull in good shape.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Graded stakes winners Zagora and Keertana top nine probables pointing for the Endeavour Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the Tampa Bay Downs turf on Saturday’s Sam. F. Davis undercard. Zagora won the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga last summer, and would be making her first start since September. She came off a similar layoff in last year’s Hillsborough here and led late before coming up a neck short.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A veteran of Triple Crown delight and disappointment, trainer Todd Pletcher knows as rosy as things look right now for his 3-year-olds, they can get thorny in a hurry.
That’s why even as loaded as Pletcher appears to be for this year’s Kentucky Derby, he is doing his best to temper his enthusiasm.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ever So Lucky, who made everybody’s Kentucky Derby watch list immediately after his sensational maiden win last fall at Churchill Downs, will launch his 3-year-old campaign in the seven-furlong Hutcheson on Feb. 11, trainer Jonathan Sheppard confirmed Monday.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – A trio of stakes are on tap Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs for Festival Preview Day. The card is topped by the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds that is a prep for the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 10.
Also on the Saturday card are the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour for fillies and mares on the turf and the $150,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the turf.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Eoin Harty says he’s expecting big things out of Endorsement this season, beginning with a victory in Wednesday’s $56,500 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.
Endorsement will be making his third start since suffering a condylar fracture just days before the 2010 Kentucky Derby. A son of Distorted Humor owned by Casner Racing LP, Endorsement has finished second in each of his first two tries on the comeback trail, at six furlongs here on Dec. 10 and a mile on New Year’s Day. He’ll stretch out to 1 1/16 miles in Wednesday’s main event.
Sunday’s pick six paid $30,017 on a day when favorites won the last four races.
The pool began with a carryover of $239,519 from Friday. Bettors added $1,236,851 on Sunday. The pick-six pool was carried from Friday to Sunday because Saturday’s card featured $1 Luck pick six, featuring stakes races at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita.
The winners of Sunday’s pick-six races at Santa Anita were Via Verde ($8), Zombyslayermrdarcy ($32), Mega Heart ($6.60), Zackn’mat ($7.20), Unzip Me ($3.40), and Russian Bayou ($6.20).
ARCADIA, Calif. - Unzip Me held off a late threat from Teroda to win the 10th stakes of her career in Sunday’s $86,600 Wishing Well Stakes at Santa Anita, a victory that trainer Marty Jones credited to jockey Rafael Bejarano.
“Raf did a good job getting her to settle and that was the difference,” Jones said. “If she’d been caught in a speed duel, they might have caught her.”
Trainer John Sadler has been fined $1,500 for two instances in which horses that he started at Hollywood Park in a two-day period in late November tested positive for the muscle relaxant Methocarbamol.
The positives were found in post-race tests taken from Doubledown On Ten, who finished fifth in the fourth race on Nov. 25, a maiden special weight for sprinters; and Stoney Fleece, the winner of the $100,000 Generous Stakes for 2-year-old males over a mile on turf on Nov. 27.
