LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Keeneland stewards have handed out three-day suspensions to superstar jockeys in town for opening weekend to the fall meet.
Joel Rosario and the Ortiz brothers Irad and Jose all will sit out Oct. 19-21 after being cited for riding infractions on the opening-day card Friday. All three riders are Eclipse Award winners based mainly in New York.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher was at Keeneland to watch Malathaat win the Spinster Stakes on Sunday and not at Aqueduct to see Nest win the Beldame earlier in the day. There’s absolutely no reading into what any of that means, simply because a person can’t be in two places at one time.
Human cloning still forbidden, Pletcher availed himself to watching Nest via simulcast, and in both races, he very much liked what he saw.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – No Name Dude made a name for himself here Saturday and showed a new dimension in the process when overcoming a sluggish start to capture the Hollywood Beach Stakes going five furlongs over the Tapeta surface.
No Name Dude, a 2-year-old son of The Big Beast, entered the Hollywood Beach having made just two previous starts, both on the main track, having won his maiden at second asking in wire-to-wire fashion in a race restricted to Florida-breds on Sept. 17.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Sunday’s program at Santa Anita begins with a racing rarity – a carryover of $406,147 in the 50-cent early pick five.
The carryover was clinched when Going to Vegas ($7.20) led throughout the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes, Saturday’s fifth race. Going to Vegas was by far the lowest $2 mutuel in the early pick five on Saturday.
The other winners were Weemissgrammy ($41.40), Apprehend ($19.80), Izzy Em ($37.80) and Blessed Touch ($12).
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Smooth Like Strait was among the early scratches Saturday from the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland because of a minor cut on his knee, according to trainer Michael McCarthy.
Smooth Like Strait, owned by Cannon Thoroughbreds, was the 9-2 second choice in an oversubscribed lineup of older horses in the $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile, the 10th of 11 races on a blockbuster Saturday card. The Coolmore is a Win and You’re In toward the Breeders’ Cup Mile, to be run Nov. 5 on the Keeneland turf.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Flightline was the first worker after the 6:30 a.m. break Saturday at Santa Anita, strolling through a five-furlong drill as his flawless preparation continues for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.
Under exercise rider Juan Leyva, Flightline broke off by himself at the five-eighths pole and crossed the wire in 1:00.20. His gallop-out was strong; clockers gave the colt a six-furlong time of 1:12.40. Either way, Flightline was his typical professional self.
Sam Houston Race Park plans to conduct daytime racing during its upcoming Thoroughbred meet in one of a handful of changes for the new season that starts Jan. 6.
The 43-date meet runs through April 8.
Sam Houston will race Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a first post of 1 p.m. Central. The start time will be the same for two holiday Monday cards in January and February. Sam Houston also is moving one of its signature races, the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic, from a Sunday card to a Saturday.
Trainers Tom Morley and Edmund Davis were each suspended and fined by the New York State Gaming Commission for the presence of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone in the post-race test of horses who competed at Saratoga this summer.
Morley was suspended 10 days and fined $1,000 for the presence of phenylbutazone in the post-race sample of Built to Last, who won the third race at Saratoga on Aug. 24.
Morley, who waived his right of appeal, will serve the days from Oct. 13-22.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Invitations for 10 3-year-old fillies to the Grade 1, $600,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup next Saturday (Oct. 15) on the Keeneland turf have been issued by track management, with McKulick and Pizza Bianca heading the list.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- There will be a pick six carryover of $207,748 into Friday’s Belmont at Aqueduct card after the wager was not hit for a second straight day.
