TORONTO – Fort Erie, which originally planned to downsize its 2012 meeting to 69 days, has restored the seven “lost” dates in an agreement between the Ontario HBPA and the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium.
The meeting will begin May 6 and will now run through Oct. 30, after originally having been scheduled to conclude Oct. 16.
Trainer Rudy Rodriguez said his objective with Ruthless Stakes winner Agave Kiss is to have as fresh a 3-year-old filly as possible to tackle the heavy heads in the Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont in July.
That’s why on Monday morning Rodriguez remained non-committal as to where Agave Kiss would make her next start. There are plenty of options, including the $75,000 Dearly Precious on Feb. 11, Grade 3, $150,000 Cicada on March 10, and the $75,000 Broadway on March 24.
Jockeys Alan Garcia and Jackie Davis both took off their mounts Monday at Aqueduct, still feeling sore from the effects of separate spills over the weekend.
Both riders were hopeful to return to the saddle when racing resumes here Thursday.
Garcia, who was aboard Scorper when that horse broke down during the running of Saturday’s fourth race, didn’t ride Sunday either. He was just body sore, according to agent Ron Anderson.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It has been almost three years since I Want Revenge shipped cross-country to win the Gotham and Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and stamp himself the favorite for the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
It has been equally as long since I Want Revenge has won a race.
Now 6, I Want Revenge embarks on another comeback at the scene of one of his most impressive victories when he runs in Saturday’s $75,000 Evening Attire Stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track.
At the Heritage Horse Sale during November in Oklahoma City, a prospective purchaser of equines can bid on paints and Quarter Horses, cutting-horse prospects or barrel-racers. There are Thoroughbreds for sale there, too, and in the fall of 2010, owner Steve Martin and trainer Wilson Brown unearthed a little treasure. Martin, on Brown’s advice, gave $1,200 for Ted’s Folly, a son of the $2,000 stallion Wild Tale. Eight races into his career, Ted’s Folly has won six starts in a row while banking $335,491 for his Oklahoma-based connections.
I Like the Odds, upset winner of the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity for Quarter Horses on Dec. 11, was euthanized Friday after suffering from laminitis in recent weeks, Los Alamitos announced in a statement Sunday.
The laminitis is believed to have been an after effect of a spider bite sustained in the days after the victory in the Los Alamitos Two Million, according to co-owner Kim Kessinger. I Like the Odds was being treated at San Luis Rey Equine Clinic in San Diego County when he was euthanized.
Rosie Napravnik has a score to settle with a 3-year-old Louisiana-bred colt named Benwill.
It was Benwill who acted up and unseated Napravnik before the start of the sixth race Jan. 8, her fall followed by a trip to a local hospital, where sprains to both ankles and a deep bone bruise were diagnosed.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Could there be another Animal Kingdom residing on the backstretch at Tampa Bay Downs?
Saturday morning, State of Play, a horse with several similarities to the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner, breezed a leisurely five furlongs over the Tampa Bay main track in 1:03.
Jockey Jackie Davis appeared to escape serious injury Sunday after being unseated from her mount following the running of the last race at Aqueduct.
Davis sustained a bruised collarbone, but no breaks, according to her father, the former jockey Robbie Davis. Jackie Davis, who was removed from the track on a stretcher and transported to North Shore University Hospital, was to undergo a CT-Scan Sunday night. All X-rays taken were negative, Robbie Davis said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Only pacesetters were successful in weekend stakes at Santa Anita.
After Tapizar won Saturday’s Sham Stakes for 4-year-olds and Reneesgotzip won the Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters early on Sunday, Ellafitz led throughout Sunday’s eighth race, the $83,000 Paseana Handicap for fillies and mares.
