Wed, 03/02/2011 - 17:43

Calibrachoa heads Tom Fool

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Calibrachoa, Ramon Dominguez up, wins the Toboggan

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Owner Mike Repole, trainer Todd Pletcher, and jockey Ramon Dominguez will have the horse to beat in the Grade 3, $150,000 Tom Fool on Saturday at Aqueduct when they send out Calibrachoa in the six-furlong sprint, which will be run over the inner track for the first time.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 17:15

Remington set to launch 50-day Quarter Horse meet


Remington Park will open for a 50-date Quarter Horse meet on Friday night. The season will run through Memorial Day.

Purses are projected at $250,000 a card, with the track’s 44-race stakes schedule led by the Grade 1, $1 million Heritage Place Quarter Horse Futurity on May 28. Other top events include the Grade 1, $250,000 Remington Park Championship that offers the winner a berth into the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 17:12

Fusa Code may try Sunland Derby

Tommie Morelos / Coady Photography
Fusa Code, upset winner of the Borderland Derby, may try the $800,000 Sunland Park Derby next.

Fusa Code, who won his maiden in the $100,000 Borderland Derby last weekend at Sunland Park, is being considered for a start in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby, said his trainer, Steve Asmussen. The 1 1/8-mile race is March 27.

Fusa Code came into the Borderland off a third-place finish in a maiden special weight route at Santa Anita on Feb. 3. The horse has since returned to Southern California and Asmussen said if he is doing as well as he was up to the Borderland that the Sunland Derby will become an option for Fusa Code.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 17:06

Smoke It Right seeks to earn shot at Arkansas Derby

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Smoke It Right has not made a wrong move in three career starts and with the right kind of performance Saturday in the $60,000 Mountain Valley at Oaklawn he could be headed to the Arkansas Derby, said his co-owner and trainer, Benard Chatters.

“We’re going to try to get to the big races,” Chatters said. “He’s a pretty nice kind of colt.”

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 17:02

Stay Thirsty gets chance to shine in Gotham

Barbara D. Livingston
Stay Thirsty (right) works out with his champion stablemate Uncle Mo.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stay Thirsty will try to step out of the shadow of his more heralded stablemate Uncle Mo and step onto the Triple Crown trail when he heads a field of nine entered to run in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 16:36

Quindici Man has work cut out against Twirling Candy

Shigeki Kikkawa
Quindici Man will make his 32nd career start in the Santa Anita Handicap.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Martin Pedroza won the Santa Anita Handicap in his first try on the longshot Martial Law in 1989 and has spent the last two decades trying to duplicate the feat.

In six rides since in the Big Cap since 1990, Pedroza’s mounts have been unplaced, a streak he hopes ends on Saturday when he rides the longshot Quindici Man for the first time for trainer Craig Lewis.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 16:20

Safe Trip preps for future stakes in Gulfstream optional claimer

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s not often a horse runs a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in a second level optional claiming race. And gets beat! But that’s exactly what happened to Safe Trip, who ran the race of his life in his 2011 debut but still came out on the short end of a head decision to the old pro Joey P. here at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 14.

Safe Trip will try again against similar company in Friday’s fifth race, a second-level optional $62,500 claimer at Gulfstream. The race drew a field of eight to go 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 16:08

Florida Derby possible for Flashpoint

Barbara D. Livingston
Hutcheson winner Flashpoint will try to stretch his speed 1 1/8 miles in the Florida Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. –  While Mucho Macho Man will skip the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby, trainer Rick Dutrow said there is a chance that Flashpoint could make his two-turn debut in the Grade 1 fixture. Flashpoint remained undefeated with a spectacular 7 1/4-length victory over Travelin Man in Saturday’s Grade 2 Hutcheson, a performance for which he earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

Dutrow said Wednesday that nothing definite has been picked out for Flashpoint’s next start but that many options are being considered, including the Florida Derby.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 15:25

Another fatality during training hours at Santa Anita

Square Face, an unraced 3-year-old, was euthanized as a result of injuries suffered in a morning workout at Santa Anita on Wednesday, the 11th horse lost because of injuries or accidents in training or racing on the sand-and-clay main track since the meeting began on Dec. 26, according to California Horse Racing Board statistics.

Wed, 03/02/2011 - 15:12

Speightful Affair trying next level at Aqueduct

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Speightful Affair broke through with a career-best performance last December, winning a first-level allowance race by almost seven lengths. A similar effort Friday could make Speightful Affair a stakes winner when she is scheduled to meet six rivals in the $60,000 Am Capable Stakes for fillies and mares going a mile over Aqueduct’s inner track.

Among Speightful Affair’s rivals are Five Grand Girl and Purrfect Bluff, the first- and fourth-place finishers from Sunday’s Patty’s Positive Stakes going six furlongs here.