Full Serrano, one of California’s leading older males in the last 18 months, worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday for a 2026 campaign.
Full Serrano has not raced since he finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1, a race he won in 2024 at Del Mar.
Trainer John Sadler said on Thursday that Full Serrano will miss the Grade 2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The new meet is bringing some upgrades across the property, including the Jockey Club, according to Oaklawn president Lou Cella.
“On the club side, we’ve now completed renovation of all new televisions on every table,” he said. “Every table in the club has a brand new, beautiful television. We also put a gift shop in the club.”
Oaklawn also is offering club members an Oaklawn credit card. It’s an account for which they can charge anything on the property.
“It’s just a little perk,” said Cella.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park’s opening day got off to a rousing start Friday morning when Arkansas Derby winner Sandman breezed over the local strip as part of an outstanding division of horses Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse is preparing for the meet.
It’s a regular Mark’s Millionaires Row, really.
Even as trainer Chris Block this fall bade farewell to the mare Oeuvre, a multi-season stakes stalwart in his stable, the 4-year-old colt Moonlight was developing into a stakes horse.
Moonlight probably heads next to the $175,000 Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds, his winter base, while Oeuvre has headed off to life as a broodmare.
Rather than make his regular move to Fair Grounds following the end of the Churchill Downs meet late last month, the jockey Florent Geroux followed a far different path. The Japan Racing Association granted Geroux a short-term license spanning Dec. 5-31 and Geroux has taken the opportunity to expand his horizons.
Not long after winning the Clark Stakes on Nov. 30, Magnitude shipped south and settled comfortably into his winter home in the Steve Asmussen barn at Fair Grounds. His next race comes far from home: the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 14 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh.
“Magnitude will be in New Orleans until he gets on a plane and goes to Saudi Arabia,” said David Fiske, racing manager for Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds, Magnitude’s owner. “He’s doing great. I get videos of him every morning.”
Two barns at Tampa Bay Downs have been placed under quarantine after a horse stabled in one of them tested positive for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious virus that can cause respiratory disease, reproductive issues, and neurological conditions.
The horse who tested positive, from the barn of trainer Kathleen O’Connell, has been moved to an off-site clinic, according to Allison DeLuca, Tampa’s racing secretary.
Trainer Andy Simoff sent Jumping the Gun back home for a well-deserved winter layoff on Tuesday, a break that will likely last six to seven weeks. The Delaware Park-based juvenile filly capped her 2025 campaign with a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Demoiselle on Saturday at Aqueduct.
Despite finishing 8 1/2 lengths behind the Todd Pletcher-trained filly Zany, Simoff said he was happy with Jumping the Gun’s effort in graded stakes company. In five career starts, including two stakes wins at Delaware, she has never finished worse than second.
Quint’s Brew, runner-up in the Grade 2 Carter and Grade 3 Westchester earlier this year, could make his long-awaited return later this month after a successful training stint at Delaware Park. Trainer Ned Allard remains cautious, but nominating him for the $100,000 Bender Memorial on Dec. 20 at Laurel Park could be a strong hint.
“There’s a couple spots, but I don’t even want to mention them,” Allard said. “I might take advantage of an allowance race just to get started back, but it’s going to be hard to resist the Maryland-bred race on the 20th.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park might be more than 120 years old, but its team has managed to give each passing meet a fresh feel. That will again be the case Friday when the Arkansas track launches a 64-date season that continues through May 2.
The changes start with a new racing format. Oaklawn will put on a holiday meet through Jan. 4. Then, after a three-week break, the track will return with a classic meet from Jan. 30 to May 2.
