Midnight Stroll, the Delaware Oaks winner, was credited with a six-furlong move in 1:14.60 Friday morning over the Belmont Park training track. She is preparing for a start in the Grade 1 La Break Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
Midnight Stroll, working on the inside of Union Lake, went from the half-mile pole to the wire 48.70 seconds with a final quarter of 23.85 seconds. She went out five furlongs in 1:01.93 and six furlongs in 1:14.60.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After initially planning to wait until the Withers Stakes on Feb. 4 to run Arctic Arrogance again, trainer Linda Rice said this week she is now strongly considering running the Grade 2 Remsen runner-up in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes here on Jan. 7.
“I’m going to point to the Jerome,” Rice said Thursday. “Two months is too much time. I’ll the let horse make the decision, how he’s doing at the time. If I feel like he needs more time between races, I can wait for the Withers.”
Gander, a four-time New-York bred champion gelding who was a fan favorite for his desire and durability, died Wednesday at Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater, N.Y., due to complications from old age. He was 26.
Gander, owned by brothers Mike and Ted Gatsas, raced 60 times in a career that began in 1998 and lasted through July 2004 before he suffered a career-ending injury in a workout at Saratoga. Gander won 15 races, including six stakes topped by the Grade 2 Meadowlands Cup in 2001, and earned $1,824,011. He still ranks as the 12th all-time leading New York-bred money earner.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez was fined $4,017 and suspended one day for striking Mind Control seven times with his whip, one over the limit set forth by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, in winning the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 3.
Mind Control won the Cigar Mile by a head over Get Her Number in a spirited stretch duel that also included White Abarrio, who was beaten a half-length in third.
Topped by its usual trio of races for 3-year-olds hoping to jump on the Triple Crown trail, the New York Racing Association will offer 25 stakes worth $3.2 million at the 2023 Aqueduct winter meet that runs from Jan. 1 through March 26.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Kentucky Derby points value for the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest on Jan. 28 has been raised from 10 to the winner to 20 to the winner, said Oaklawn racing secretary Pope. (Points are administered by Churchill Downs.)
Oaklawn’s points series for 3-year-olds starts with the $250,000 Smarty Jones on Jan. 1 and continues with the Southwest, the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Feb. 25, and the Arkansas Derby.
New claiming policy
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Cold, hard cash will be flowing throughout the Oaklawn Park meet, which opens Friday and runs through May 6. And it’s bringing a diverse cast of talent to town for the 68-date meet.
Purses are projected to average nearly $750,000 a day. The outlay has maiden special weight races worth $90,000, allowances starting at $104,000, and bottom-level, $6,250 claimers running for $26,000.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Siding with tradition, Woodbine Entertainment has renamed the $1 million Queen’s Plate the King’s Plate following the accession of King Charles III, the successor to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died at 96 in September.
The 2023 King’s Plate has been scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 20, around the same time on the calendar as this year’s edition. Known as North America’s oldest annually run stakes, it will be the 164th running of the 1 1/4-mile event for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
