Opening day at Laurel Park’s 2012 winter meet got an unexpected boost when Rapid Redux’s name showed up in the entry box.
Rapid Redux surpassed Zenyatta’s streak of 19 straight wins during a 2011 campaign in which he extended his own streak to 21, the most in North America since Camarero collected 56 straight victories in Puerto Rico during the 1950s, will shoot for his 22nd consecutive victory in Wednesday’s sixth race, a one-mile starter allowance with a purse of $17,000.
Not that anyone really notices, but a new meet starts Sunday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. For bookkeeping and other legal reasons, the holiday meet ends when one year ends, and the winter-spring meet begins when the next year begins.
Otherwise, what happened in December figures to continue unabated for the next three months – and that is, Victor Lebron dominating the jockey standings and Mike Maker leading all trainers despite having what is basically his third string of horses based at Turfway.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Local horsemen have been clamoring for a chance to run their top 3-year-olds 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park for the past seven years. That opportunity finally arrived this winter, with the first major test scheduled at the distance to come on Sunday, New Years’ Day, with the inaugural running of the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Derby.
Chuck Jenda, who trained the first Northern California-based Eclipse Award winner, has retired from training.
Jenda guided Brown Bess to the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top female grass horse in 1989 after she won the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita.
Jenda, 65, said he is moving from Castro Valley to Spokane, Wash., to be near family.
Jenda began training in 1976 and won 1,477 races from 8,410 starters. His horses won $24,661,645.
Golden Gate Fields will add a $50,000-added stakes to its winter/spring racing schedule, racing secretary David Jerkens said Thursday.
The six-furlong Albany Stakes for older runners will be contested on Jan. 28. Nominations for the race will close on Jan. 19.
Golden Gate Fields did not run an open sprint stakes for older horses in 2011 until the Oakland Stakes on Oct. 22.
Interim general manager Joe Morris said before the current meeting opened on Dec. 26 that the track hoped to add additional stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Thursday’s pick six at Santa Anita paid $3,832 on a day in which favorites won four of the races in the sequence.
Thursday’s pick six began with a carryover of $184,148 from Monday's opening day program. Bettors added $775,980 to the pool on Thursday.
Favorites won the first two legs – Backwoods Belle ($4.80) in the third race, and Beautiful Strike ($2.80) in the fourth – before Metropolitan Mile ($10.20) edged 5-2 favorite Ribat in the fifth.
Trainer Gary Contessa will find out about another of his 2-year-olds, Brooklyn Red, who stretches out to a mile and 70 yards in Saturday’s $75,000 Restrainor Stakes for New York-breds.
Brooklyn Red is 2 for 2, with both wins at six furlongs.
“He’s trained well for the race,” Contessa said. “He’s undefeated. We’ll find out if he wants to go two turns. So many sprinters can stretch out on the inner track. Now is the time to find out if he will go two turns.”
John Johny Jak, winner of two minor stakes earlier this year, is recovering from recent colic surgery and will be sidelined until the summer, trainer Kristin Mulhall said.
The illness was diagnosed after Mulhall exercised John Johny Jak at Hollywood Park on Dec. 23. He was rushed to a local equine hospital later that morning, where he underwent surgery.
“They expect a full recovery,” she said, conveying the opinion of veterinarians. “He’ll probably get at least three months. Fortunately, he’s still with us.”
Two divisions of the $50,000 Louisiana Futurity might highlight a sleepy weekday card at Fair Grounds, but Saturday’s 11-race program in New Orleans is far from mundane, and the Futurities take a backseat to a pair of key 2-year-old route allowance races and a stakes-class turf-allowance race for older horses.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Lemon Splendor, coming off a maiden win on turf, made a successful dirt debut Thursday at Aqueduct, rolling by odds-on favorite Double Mint inside the eighth pole and drawing clear to a 3 3/4-length victory in the $75,000 Swirlaway Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-old fillies.
Proud and Charming, well out of it early, rallied down the center of the track to get second by one-half length over Double Mint, the 4-5 favorite. She was followed in the order of finish by Berning Carbs, Mon Rose, and Full of Intent.
