Sat, 12/10/2011 - 14:10

Gulfstream: Brendan Walsh, Santiva will have to wait for another day

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Brendan Walsh will have to wait another day to launch his training career. Walsh, a native of Cork, Ireland, was hoping to send out his first starter, the Grade 2 winner Santiva, in Saturday’s ninth race, but he was unable to draw in off the also-eligible list.

Walsh worked as an exercise rider and assistant to Eddie Kenneally, who trained Santiva earlier in his career. Santiva has not run since finishing eighth in the Belmont. He was entered to run on the grass for only the second time in his career on Saturday. 

Sat, 12/10/2011 - 14:06

Gulfstream: Lopez, Bravo miss stakes mounts after spill

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Jockeys Paco Lopez and Joe Bravo were forced to take off all their mounts Saturday and Sunday after being involved in a frightening spill here Friday. Both Lopez and Bravo were scheduled to ride in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sugar Swirl, with Lopez on Catch a Thief and Bravo aboard Roman Treasure.

Sat, 12/10/2011 - 13:49

Hollywood Park: Dominguez agrees to ride Majestic City in CashCall Futurity

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ramon Dominguez, who leads the nation’s riders with more than $19.4 million in earnings this year, will ride Majestic City in Saturday’s $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park.

The Grade 1 CashCall Futurity will be the first time that Dominguez has ridden Majestic City, a winner of 3 of 6 starts and $245,570. Trainer Peter Miller finalized the assignment on Friday.

“I said, ‘Who’s the leading rider in the country?’ ” Miller said. “I’ll try to get him. He’s a great rider.

Sat, 12/10/2011 - 13:42

Gulfstream: Dania Beach looking stronger than Harlan's Holiday next weekend

Michael Burns
Finale (left), under John Velazquez, wins the Grade 3 Summer Stakes at Woodbine.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Naming a stakes at Gulfstream Park for Harlan’s Holiday was a long time coming considering he won both the 2002 Florida Derby and 2003 Donn Handicap at this track during a racing career that ended with more than $3.6 million in the bank. But one would think Harlan’s Holiday himself was running here Saturday, the way the racing office is scrambling just to fill the event.

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 17:44

Gulfstream: Redeemed works easily

Dustin Orona Photography
Redeemed is one of three horses Richard Dutrow Jr. has nominated to the Harlan's Holiday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Redeemed, easy winner of the Grade 3 Discovery Handicap on Nov. 19, showed he’s still maintaining his good form when he worked a very easy five furlongs in 1:01.46 at Gulfstream Park on Friday. Redeemed posted fractions of 25.32 and 37.32 seconds before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.47.

Redeemed is one of three horses trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. has nominated to Saturday’s inaugural running of the $60,000 Harlan’s Holiday overnight stakes, along with stablemates Boys At Tosconova and Trickmeister.

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 17:34

Gulfstream Park: Union Rags still on the farm

Barbara D. Livingston
Union Rags will likely go to the Palm Meadows training center around the first of the year.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Among the more notable 2-year-olds who will be hoping to embark on the Kentucky Derby trail here at Gulfstream Park this winter is Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Union Rags. Trainer Michael Matz said Union Rags has been taking it easy on the Skara Glen Stables farm in Wellington, Fla., where he was scheduled to be ridden under tack for the first time since the Breeders’ Cup on Friday.

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 16:32

Fair Grounds: Hammers Terror looks stakes-worthy

Lou Hodges Jr.
Hammers Terror, with James Graham riding, wins an allowance in his first race on dirt and around two turns.

As fast as trainer Al Stall came blazing out of the gate opening week at Fair Grounds, he entered Friday’s races in New Orleans only tied atop the trainer standings, Mike Stidham having caught up with a couple of winners on Thursday’s card. One was Hammers Terror, a 2-year-old colt who earned a spot in the Jan. 26 Lecomte Stakes with a 2 3/4-length victory in a first-level allowance race.

Hammers Terror had won his maiden on Polytrack at Keeneland and never had raced two turns, so he cleared two hurdles – dirt and routes – in the same race Thursday.

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 16:03

Keeneland, Martin Collins dissolve Polytrack company partnership

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Keeneland Association and Martin Collins Equine Services are dissolving their partnership in a company that manufactures and markets Polytrack, the synthetic racing surface in place at a number of racetracks in North America, including Keeneland.

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 15:47

Sunland: Fincher stablemates square off in Racing Commission Handicap

Comicsperfectstorm, who has won her last five races, and Rose’s Desert, a winner of her last three starts, are stablemates who will meet for the first time Sunday in the $110,000 New Mexico Racing Commission Handicap at Sunland Park.

“We couldn’t avoid it anymore,” trainer Todd Fincher said.

The Racing Commission Handicap is a six-furlong race for fillies and mares bred in New Mexico. It will share a card with another statebred stakes, the $110,000 Johnie L. Jamison Handicap.

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 15:17

Hollywood Park: Celestial Kitten points to Frankel Stakes after Spearfish Stakes win

Benoit & Associates
Celestial Kitten (left), under Rafael Bejarano, holds off Whisper Louise to win Thursday’s Spearfish Stakes at Hollywood Park. She is being pointed to the Frankel Stakes on Jan. 1.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Celestial Kitten won her first stakes in Thursday’s Spearfish Stakes at Hollywood Park and will have the fifth chance of her career to win a graded stakes in the $150,000 Robert Frankel Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 1.

Owned by Triple B Farms and trained by Ben Cecil, Celestial Kitten, 4, has run in four graded stakes in the past, with her best results second-place finishes in the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont Park in June and the Grade 3 Harold Ramser Handicap at Santa Anita in October.