Jockey Armando Ayuso knows his way around Santa Anita.
A fixture on the jockey roster in Northern California since the autumn of 2020, Ayuso worked in the late 2010s as an exercise rider in Southern California for trainers such as Mark Glatt and Jim Cassidy.
Ayuso returned to Santa Anita this week. While the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting ends on Sunday, Ayuso plans to ride the three-week Los Alamitos meeting, which begins on June 25, and the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 22.
Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville has shifted first post for its weekday cards next week to 6:45 p.m. in anticipation of another heat wave blanketing the area, the track announced on Thursday.
The cards scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week will all start at 6:45, according to the track, approximately four hours later than normal. Long-range forecasts are predicting heat indexes exceeding 100 degrees for much of next week.
The Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown on Saturday at Monmouth Park is a 1 1/16-mile grass race for fillies and mares. Fair to assume trainer Chad Brown is winning it.
Through last weekend there had been 17 filly-and-mare turf route stakes run this year outside of California. Brown has run a horse in 13 of them and – after Bleecker Street captured the New York Stakes on June 10 at Belmont and Regal Glory the Just a Game there the following day – has wins in all 13 of them.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine Entertainment announced Thursday that high-profile owner and breeder Jaime Roth, of LNJ Foxwood Stables, has been appointed to its board of directors.
“Woodbine is excited to announce the appointment of Jaime to its board of directors,” said board chair Christine Magee. “We look forward to working with Jaime and will benefit greatly from her expertise as we leverage her horse racing experience to continue to grow the sport of horse racing in Ontario, and our brand and racing product globally.”
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Silver Prospector won the richest race of Lone Star Park’s meet last month in the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile.
Now, he’ll bid for the biggest purse of the season at Prairie Meadows.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday that Silver Prospector is being pointed to the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap. The 1 1/8-mile race will be run July 9 at Prairie Meadows as part of the Iowa Festival of Racing.
Churchill Downs has canceled its Thursday evening card due to a continuing heat wave in the Midwest, which had already caused the track to scrap its Wednesday card.
A National Weather Service excessive heat warning for portions of Indiana – where Horseshoe Indianapolis canceled its Tuesday and Wednesday cards – and Kentucky remains in effect until Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Belterra Park and Thistledown in Ohio also canceled their Wednesday cards, as heat index values of 102 to 107 were forecasted. Belterra also has canceled racing for Thursday.
With the Midwest in the grips of a brutal heat wave, Wednesday’s eight-race program at Churchill Downs has been canceled because of excessive heat.
A National Weather Service excessive heat warning for Louisville, Ky., is effect until Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern. Heat index values of 105 to 109 are forecast for Wednesday.
Churchill Downs announced on Saturday morning the immediate suspension of turf racing and training over its course that debuted at this current spring-summer meeting, with a pause to last at least two weeks. The suspension certainly will impact what would have been some of the featured allowance-level events over the next week.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Cyberknife earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 94 for his game nose victory in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes over a tenacious Howling Time on Sunday at Churchill Downs. The number he earned bettered the 92 he posted in winning the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in April. He finished 18th in the Kentucky Derby after tracking a brutal early pace. The Matt Winn was a fine rebound.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Gaming Commission rejected the appeal by the connections of Battalion to have the voided claim of their horse from a May 28 race at Belmont Park overturned.
Owner Michael De Bella and trainer Bob Klesaris argued that the voiding of the claim of Battalion from them for $25,000 by owner Sandy Goldfarb and trainer Rob Atras was an abuse of the stewards’ discretionary powers under the circumstances and they were being penalized for it.
