DEL MAR, Calif. - Phil D’Amato and John Shirreffs had remarkably similar reactions on Sunday morning to the manner in which their horses ran in Saturday’s Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar.

Both were left with highly favorable impressions of performances by race winner Hong Kong Harry, trained by D’Amato, and second-place finisher Beyond Brilliant, trained by Shirreffs.

Hong Kong Harry won his third stakes of the year in the $251,500 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles, closing from fifth in a field of eight to win by a neck over Beyond Brilliant.

There won’t be any turf racing at Fair Grounds until late December at the earliest, with plans to run a limited number of grass races on the outer portion of the turf course scrapped this week.

Multiple stakes winner Stilleto Boy is on target for the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita after a recent rest.

Trainer Ed Moger Jr. said Stilleto Boy was given a seven-week vacation at a farm after finishing last of six behind the now-retired superstar Flightline in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Sept. 3 at Del Mar.

“He was just tired, that’s all,” Moger said. 

Stilleto Boy has worked twice in recent weeks at Golden Gate Fields, going a half-mile in 37.60 seconds on Saturday in his most recent work.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of starter optional-claiming races highlight Friday’s nine-race program, one on dirt, the second over the Tapeta course.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Angel Penna Jr., the son of Hall of Fame trainer Angel Penna Sr., died Tuesday in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 74.

Penna had been suffering from dementia, according to a report in Thoroughbred Daily News.

Penna, a native of Argentina, won 586 races with earnings in excess of $24 million during a training career that spanned more than four decades. Penna, who campaigned exclusively in south Florida over the past 10 years, sent out his final winner, Callmesenorita, on Feb. 11, 2021, at Gulfstream Park.

The Belmont Park fall meet will again be held at Aqueduct next year, according to a 2023 racing schedule put out by the New York Racing Association on Wednesday.  

The 28-date meet will run from Sept. 14 to Oct. 29.  

NYRA conducted this year’s Belmont’s fall meet at Aqueduct due to construction of a tunnel to the infield at Belmont. There are still additional construction projects slated for Belmont, including a renovation of both turf courses and the main track, which are scheduled to begin next summer.

Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey, a Hall of Fame trainer, has been suspended 15 days for a post-race positive for acepromazine, a regulated tranquilizer, in a horse that finished second in a stakes race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., this summer, according to a Kentucky stewards ruling.

Jockey Tyler Baze plans to winter at the Oaklawn Park meet that opens Dec. 9, said Jay Fedor, the Midwest-based agent who will have his book at the Hot Springs, Ark., track. Fedor said Baze is scheduled to arrive in Arkansas on Nov. 29. 

Baze is currently riding at Del Mar in Southern California. 

“He loved it here when he was here a couple of years ago,” Fedor said. “He’s a top rider, a lot of background to him.” 

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Trevor McCarthy will be out of action 8 to 10 weeks after suffering a broken collarbone and pelvic fracture after being involved in a spill during the running of last Friday’s sixth race at Aqueduct.

The good news is that both fractures are non-displaced so McCarthy will not need surgery, “just time and rest to heal,” according to his agent Joey Migliore.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The top challengers to Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike all squeezed in their final pre-race workouts over the weekend, preparing for their clash Friday at Churchill Downs in the $750,000 Clark, one of the final Grade 1 races of the year in North America.