Though trainer Tony Dutrow canceled a Wednesday morning workout for Grace Hall, he said the Grade 1 winner remains on course to make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $250,000 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 25.
Dutrow pushed the work back from Wednesday to Thursday due to wet track conditions at Palm Meadows caused by overnight rains.
Frumious, winner of the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes last Saturday, is a candidate for the $2 million Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 31.
“We haven’t made a solid plan, but we’re thinking about going to Dubai,” trainer Jeff Bonde said Wednesday. “It’s probably a good chance he’d go.”
Owned by George and Mary Clare Schmitt, Frumious has won 6 of 15 starts and $259,192. The Palos Verdes was his first stakes win.
Zagora, who gave trainer Chad Brown his first Grade 1 winner in last year’s Diana at Saratoga, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 4.
Zagora has not run since finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Canadian at Woodbine last Sept. 18.
“She got banged around pretty good in the race, needed a little time afterwards,’’ Brown said. “We freshened her up, pointed to this year. She’s come around nicely, a little quicker than I thought.”
Rain or shine, multiple stakes winner Proceed Bee is a go for Saturday night’s Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Cup Turf at Sam Houston Race Park. He was one of seven older horses entered in the 1 1/8-mile turf race Wednesday. Proceed Bee will be invading from Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., and is to ship to Houston on Friday, trainer Scott Becker said.
The forecast for Saturday in Houston calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 66 degrees, but on Wednesday portions of the city were under a flood warning. Rain also was forecast for Wednesday night and possibly into Thursday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Although a first-level optional $50,000 claimer for 3-year-old sprinters is positioned in the traditional “feature” position as race 8 at Aqueduct on Friday, tune in early for your best chance of seeing any truly up-and-coming 3-year-olds, because the opener is a six-furlong maiden special that actually carries the day’s richest purse at $60,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Garrett Gomez had a cast removed from his left ankle Tuesday, a little more than two weeks after fracturing a heel in an accident near the paddock at Santa Anita on Jan. 8.
Gomez, 40, began physical therapy Wednesday and is hoping to make a comeback in March as previously scheduled. He underwent surgery earlier this month to have 10 screws and a plate inserted in the heel to stabilize the injury.
“It looks really good, according to the doctor,” said Pam Gomez, the jockey’s wife. She said Gomez could return in early March “in a best-case scenario.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas won the Oaklawn meet’s first route stakes for fillies and mares last weekend with Absinthe Minded. Now, he has his sights set on the filly and mare sprint ranks with a newcomer to his barn, Palooza.
“She just got here,” Lukas said Wednesday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Buff Bradley said he’s not especially fond of running fillies against males but he made an exception to that rule when he entered his talented Groupie Doll against the boys in Friday’s fourth-level optional $100,000 claiming feature at Gulfstream Park.
