The blizzard that struck the Northeast on Sunday into Monday will delay the arrival of many horses scheduled to run in Saturday stakes at Aqueduct.
Horses expected to arrive by van from Florida – such as Iron Honor and Hammond for the Gotham and Nycon, Blazing Brat, Current Yield, and Paradise for the Busher – had their travel pushed back by at least one day. Instead of leaving Monday, those horses were now hopeful of leaving on Tuesday, arriving in New York on Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tariff Mindset overcame a taxing trip to win his debut going one mile at Aqueduct last Saturday, and his connections are thinking he should get better going longer.
Tariff Mindset, a son of Tiz the Law, got away poorly in Saturday’s fifth race. He was climbing early over a sealed, muddy main track and was as far back as 11 lengths off the early pace.
Jockey Jareth Loveberry apparently escaped serious injury when unseated from his mount, Monsieur Candy, before the sixth race Saturday.
The field had assembled behind the starting gate when Monsieur Candy became agitated, rearing straight up and twisting, Loveberry said in a Sunday text message. Fearing that the horse was about to flip, Loveberry “went to get away from him,” and after coming out of the saddle, crashed into the inner rail, hitting his hip and forearm.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There is a two-day carryover of $198,741 in the $2 pick six at Santa Anita on Friday.
The pick six carryover was clinched on Sunday when Vicky Lyn ($9) won the 10th race. She edged 8-1 Goje, who would have also caused a carryover.
Friday’s pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.
The pool of money bet on Friday may exceed $1 million.
Friday’s pick six races have maximum fields of 5, 10, 6, 10, 7, and 10 before scratches, which will be announced on Friday morning.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gratefully extended her unbeaten streak to five races with a hard-fought win in the Wishing Well Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. Gaining a sixth consecutive win will not be easy, however.
Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. said on Sunday that Gratefully will be considered for two stakes in early April – the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita on April 4, or the Grade 2 Giant’s Causeway Stakes at Keeneland on April 12.
Either race will present a fierce test.
Bella Ballerina will make her next start on March 21 in the Fair Grounds Oaks.
And why wouldn’t she?
After toying – unless that’s too strong a word – with running in the Ashland Stakes two weeks later at Keeneland, owner-breeder Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh have settled on the Fair Grounds Oaks as a final prep for the Kentucky Oaks, Walsh said over the weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After winning on dirt in early December and collecting two stakes wins on turf at Santa Anita this year, the 3-year-old Greenwich Village may be tried on a different surface for his next start.
Following Greenwich Village’s win in Sunday’s Pasadena Stakes at a mile on turf, trainer Bob Baffert said he will consider starting the colt in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby at 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic track at Turfway Park on March 21.
“We’ll look at that,” Baffert said.
Great White, winner of the John Battaglia Memorial on Saturday night at Turfway Park, will make his next start in a major Kentucky Derby prep race in the Bluegrass State, but which race and track will be determined by how he trains over the next month.
“We’ll see. We’ll train him how he looks,” said trainer John Ennis, who also co-owns the gelding with Three Chimneys Farm.
Ennis noted that the massive Great White, a May foal, is still developing and building strength.
Emerging Market, an impressive albeit narrow winner of his debut at Tampa on Feb. 7, could possibly to step into stakes company in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 21, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.
Brown said by running in the Louisiana Derby it doesn’t necessarily mean Emerging Market is a Kentucky Derby prospect, and that running a horse in the Kentucky Derby off two career starts “would be a real unorthodox move” for him. Emerging Market could be a Preakness or Belmont Stakes type of horse, according to the trainer.
