It took nine attempts before Dicey Mo Chara won his first stakes in Monday’s Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes on turf at Santa Anita, a victory that could lead to a start in Florida next month.
As the winner of the $201,000 San Gabriel Stakes, Dicey Mo Chara received a fees-paid berth to the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28.
“It’s a free run in a $1 million race,” trainer Leonard Powell said.
A win in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Monday has changed the plans for race winner Rhea Moon.
Gone are plans for a start in a Grade 3 stakes such as the Megahertz Stakes at a mile on turf on Feb. 4. Instead, the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on May 29 is a long-range goal, with a likely prep in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile on turf on March 4.
“That’s probably the best plan,” trainer Phil D’Amato said on Wednesday. “I think she likes to run fresh.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Three winners, accompanied by three flying dismounts in the winner’s circle, gave legendary jockey Frankie Dettori an ideal start to his final season of riding at Santa Anita on Monday.
On a blockbuster 11-race program, Dettori needed three victories to gain a place among the three human stars on a day with six stakes.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert won five races, all on dirt, while jockey Juan Hernandez led all riders with four wins.
ARCADIA, Calif. -- Santa Anita had a record all-sources handle of $26,315,016 on Monday’s 11-race program on the first day of the winter-spring meeting, significantly higher than the previous mark of $23,003,159 set in 2020.
Monday’s handle figures included revenue from simulcasting and account wagering sources.
Monday’s ontrack crowd of 41,446 handled $3,165,792, according to a statement issued by the track. The ontrack crowd was much higher than the 2019 audience of 35,085, the last opening day before the pandemic.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There were times when trainer David Duggan thought about getting out of the game. Several nonproductive years can make one look for other things to do.
“We were at that front gate multiple times,” said Duggan, who operates a small string of horses with his wife, Lara.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was like David slaying Goliath in last Friday’s allowance feature, when Black Belt, a former $16,000 claimer, easily defeated Expressman, undoubtedly valued at seven figures after winning his debut with a 107 Beyer Speed Figure in August.
Churchill Downs Inc. has reached an agreement to purchase a major manufacturer and supplier of the slot-machine-like devices that are in operation at all of its Kentucky facilities and its new properties in Virginia, the company announced on Monday night.
The Quarter Horse jockeys Eduardo Nicasio and Juan Pablo Leon and Thoroughbred jockey Armando Aguilar have been suspended and fined for recent whip violations at Los Alamitos.
Nicasio and Leon were fined $5,000 each and suspended 10 racing days for striking their horses more than twice in succession without giving them a chance to respond and for using the whip more than six times in the $1.85 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 11.
They were cited for using their whip at least 12 times, according to an official.
Pizza Bianca has been traded from trainer Christophe Clement to Graham Motion, at least for the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
Pizza Bianca was under Clement’s direction for her first eight starts, a time in which she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in November 2021 and was third in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at a mile against older fillies and mares at the same venue last month.
