HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dale Romans will be hard on the campaign trail this spring trying to win a Senate seat for the state of Kentucky. He’s also hoping he might be on the Kentucky Derby trail at the same time, a dream that gained some momentum here Thursday when Rockies Balboa ran off to an impressive five-length allowance victory in a race restricted to Florida-breds going seven furlongs on the main track.
The scheduled Saturday and Sunday cards at Aqueduct have been canceled due to the extreme cold that continues its grip on the Northeast, the New York Racing Association announced late Thursday afternoon.
Saturday’s 10-race card was to consist of four stakes, topped by the $200,000 Withers, a Kentucky Derby points-scoring race. No make-up dates for that race or the other three stakes on the program – the Ruthless, Ladies, and Toboggan – were announced. NYRA also needs to find a new date for the Interborough Stakes, a race previously scheduled for Jan. 24.
Ted Noffey, the undefeated 2-year-old champion male of 2025, is off the Triple Crown trail after developing bone bruising, his connections announced Thursday afternoon.
The horse will be stopped on for 90 days and convalesce at Stonestreet Farm in Ocala, Fla.
“I wasn’t happy the way he was moving the last couple of days, sent him for evaluation, and he’s got some bone bruising,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We’re going to give him 90 days off and hopefully have him back for Saratoga.
Jockey Umberto Rispoli is scheduled to undergo a second ankle surgery in less than a week at a South Florida hospital on Friday to stabilize an injury sustained when he was unseated in a turf sprint at Gulfstream Park last Saturday.
Friday’s operation will also address a fracture to Rispoli’s fibula, according to his agent, Matt Nakatani.
“He’s going to have surgery tomorrow morning and then is looking to come home early next week,” Nakatani said on Thursday. “We knew there would be a second operation. The good thing is the doctors are very happy with things so far.”
Motorious, winner of the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap for turf sprinters at Del Mar the last three summers, is under consideration for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai on March 28.
“Dubai is on the table,” trainer Phil D’Amato said earlier this week. “I’ll take a strong look at Dubai if he’s training well.”
The $1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint is run at six furlongs on a straightaway course.
Owned by Tony Fanticola, Motorious has won six stakes in a 25-race career that includes 10 overall wins and earnings of $988,104.
Shisospicy, the champion female sprinter of 2025, will miss a scheduled start in the 1351 Turf Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh on Feb. 14 due to a skin infection, trainer Jose D’Angelo said Thursday.
The BloodHorse was the first to report Shisopicy would miss the race.
D’Angelo said that he noted the infection on Tuesday and would likely back off her training for one week while it clears up.
Stronghold, the 2024 Santa Anita Derby winner, resumed a workout routine Thursday at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old drilled three furlongs in 39 seconds, his first breeze in more than three weeks as he gears up for his first start since August.
“He had an abscess pop out of his foot,” trainer Phil D’Amato said this week, explaining the January interruption. “He’s doing super now. It [the abscess] was just one of those things, and better it happened now than later. He’s come back really well.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – All of a sudden, trainer Peter Eurton is loaded with filly-mare turf stakes winners. Paradise Lake and Medoro won stakes this month at Santa Anita and Fair Grounds; Vibez aims for a second stakes victory on Saturday in the Grade 3 Megahertz at Santa Anita.
“I’ve had three quality dirt [males] at one time, but never three fillies like this,” Eurton said. “It definitely is exciting.”
The recent maiden race winners Robusta and Secured Freedom are intended starters in the $100,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 7. The Lewis is the first two-turn stakes on dirt for open company at the track’s winter-spring meeting.
Robusta, a colt by Accelerate, led throughout his second start, a one-mile maiden race on Jan. 9. Owned by Calumet Farm, Robusta won by a half-length, a turnaround from a seventh-place finish in a field of 10 in a maiden race at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 22.
When Lonesome Road was gelded after two maiden races on turf at Colonial Downs last summer, trainer Michael Trombetta knew that he would have to run on dirt when he returned in the winter. He said he wasn’t concerned, though that’s much easier to say now.
