Thu, 02/16/2023 - 15:02

Teena Ella, a daughter of Hall of Fame mare Beholder, finds winning touch on turf

The 3-year-old filly Teena Ella will stay on turf for the foreseeable future after winning a six-furlong maiden race on the surface at Santa Anita last Sunday.

Trainer Richard Mandella warned on Thursday that Teena Ella is far from having reached her potential.

By War Front, Teena Ella is out of Beholder, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer. Beholder won 18 of 26 starts, 16 stakes, and earned $6,156,600. She raced from 2012-2016. Beholder was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012, 3-year-old filly of 2013, and older female of 2015 and 2016.

Thu, 02/16/2023 - 14:54

Slow Down Andy taking it easy on the farm for undetermined period

Barbara D. Livingston
Slow Down Andy has been turned out at the Ocean Breeze Ranch of owner-breeders Paul and Zillah Reddam.

Slow Down Andy, a three-time stakes winner who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland in November, is in the midst of a farm vacation.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said earlier this week that Slow Down Andy was turned out at the beginning of this month at owner-breeders Paul and Zillah Reddam’s Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall, Calif.

Slow Down Andy missed an expected start in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 because of soreness and had not trained to O’Neill’s satisfaction in the first weeks of the year.

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 13:16

Piece of My Heart swings back off claim in Heavenly Prize

Coady Photography
Piece of My Heart was claimed for $80,000 by trainer Rudy Rodriguez on Feb. 10

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Piece of My Heart, claimed for $80,000 by Rudy Rodriguez on Feb. 10, was entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational, which was expected to draw a field of five horses.

Previously trained by Linda Rice, Piece of My Heart finished second in the Interborough Stakes going six furlongs on Jan. 11 before finishing second in the aforementioned optional claimer, her 10th runner-up finish from 28 starts.

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 13:16

Arctic Arrogance to run in Gotham instead of waiting for Wood

Barbara D. Livingston
Arctic Arrogance, second in the Withers Stakes, will run in the Gotham on March 4 instead of waiting for the Wood.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Arctic Arrogance, second to Hit Show in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes on March 4, trainer Linda Rice said Wednesday.

Rice said neither the three weeks back to the Gotham nor the eight weeks to the Grade 2 Wood Memorial is ideal, but that she didn’t want to wait two months to run the horse back.

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 13:10

McCarthy back on horses and preparing to return to race riding

Barbara D. Livingston
Trevor McCarthy has not ridden since Nov. 18, when he suffered a fractured collarbone and a pelvic injury.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Trevor McCarthy, injured in a spill on Nov. 18 at Aqueduct, got back on horses Tuesday morning for the first time in nearly three months and is targeting a March 3 return.

McCarthy suffered a fractured collarbone and a pelvic injury when he went down during the running of the sixth race on Nov. 18. On Tuesday, he jogged three horses and galloped one over the Belmont Park training track. On Wednesday, he galloped three horses and jogged one.

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 12:40

Wadsworth taking Turfway trail to Kentucky Derby

Coady Photography
Wadsworth wins an allowance over the Tapeta at Turfway last Saturday.

The well-bred Wadsworth has hit his stride at Turfway Park, with a Saturday night allowance-level score his second straight win on the Tapeta. Trainer Brad Cox said he and owner-breeder Godolphin are “definitely considering” Turfway’s upcoming Kentucky Derby points races for the gelding.

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 12:16

Hit Show will train at Fair Grounds for next start

Barbara D. Livingston
Hit Show put on a show winning the Withers, drawing away by 5 1/2 lengths.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hit Show, the Grade 3 Withers winner, hit the road Wednesday and will do his training at Fair Grounds for his next start, which is still likely to occur in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8 at Aqueduct.

Dustin Dugas, the Belmont Park-based assistant to trainer Brad Cox, said owner Gary West expressed a preference not to stay in New York for the next two months and train over the deep Belmont training track.

Hit Show was stabled at Oaklawn Park before shipping to New York for the Withers, which he won by 5 1/2 lengths.

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 12:16

Kentucky Derby 2023: Asmussen's Risen Star trio just tip of the iceberg

Barbara Livingston
Steve Asmussen is still looking for his first Derby win after Epicenter finished second last year to Rich Strike.

NEW ORLEANS – By the time you read this, Steve Asmussen might have sent out his 10,000th North American winner. No one ever has done this, obviously, as Asmussen, 57, is the all-time North American leader in training wins, 9,997 through Tuesday.

Among active trainers, Jerry Hollendorfer, 76, has the next-highest total, 7,757. Todd Pletcher, who is 55, has roughly half the number of Asmussen wins, while 87-year-old D. Wayne Lukas is closing on 5,000 career winners. In other words, it’s not even close.

Mon, 02/13/2023 - 13:50

Two Emmys can make statement in Fair Grounds Stakes

Coady Photography
Two Emmys, winning the 2021 Mr. D Stakes, runs Saturday in the Fair Grounds Stakes.

It’s not out of the question that the best nine- to 10-furlong turf horse in North America races Saturday at Fair Grounds. Maybe you don’t think that highly of Two Emmys. Maybe his record merits a closer look.

In March 2021, Two Emmys made his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial, Fair Grounds’s most important turf race, where he set the pace and held a strong second behind Colonel Liam. Colonel Liam was coming off a win in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf and would go on to dead-heat for first in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

Mon, 02/13/2023 - 13:50

Newgrange on target for Santa Anita Handicap

Benoit Photo
Newgrange wins the San Pasqual Stakes under Juan Hernandez.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Newgrange, who won his 4-year-old debut in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Jan. 28, is on schedule for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 4.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said over the weekend that the $500,000 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles is a preferred goal with the hope that Newgrange can play a role in the national older horse division as the year progresses.

“We’d like to continue to develop him and make a Breeders’ Cup horse out of him,” D’Amato said. “He will need to keep developing.”