ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Jeff Bonde’s stakes winners got away with the bare minimum over the Presidents Day weekend.
Smiling Tiger won the Grade 2 San Carlos Handicap for sprinters by a nose Saturday. On Monday, Cambina rallied from last to win the Grade 3 La Habra Stakes by a nose on the hillside turf course. In between, the stable’s Sway Away ran a game second to The Factor in Sunday’s San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Cambina led for the final stride, just catching Quiet Oasis.
Trainer Bob Baffert on Tuesday said that The Factor, who sped to victory in the seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita, would likely make his first start around two turns in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby on March 27.
“Speed is gold there,” Baffert said.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
ARCADIA, Calif. – Evening Jewel, scratched out of Monday’s $150,000 Buena Vista Handicap at Santa Anita, will not be on the sidelines for long.
Trainer Jim Cassidy plans to start Evening Jewel, the 2010 California-bred horse of the year, in Saturday’s $100,000 Valentine Dancer Handicap over a mile on turf for statebred females.
Cassidy said he was uncomfortable with the conditions Monday, when Evening Jewel drew the outside post in the Buena Vista on a turf course that had sustained weekend rain.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.-– The rematch is on.
Archarcharch, J P’s Gusto, and Elite Alex – the first three finishers in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn on Monday – are all being pointed for next month’s Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel, their connections said on Tuesday.
Archarcharch was a one-length winner over J P’s Gusto, and both horses, as well as Elite Alex, encountered trouble in the one-mile Southwest. The Grade 3, $250,000 race was the first of two local stepping-stones to the Arkansas Derby. The Rebel, at 1 1/16 miles, is up next, on March 19.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Average daily attendance has increased, but handle has fallen, in some categories significantly, at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that reached the halfway point Monday.
According to track president George Haines, average daily ontrack attendance has improved 7 percent this year, while average daily handle figures are down 1.2 percent ontrack, 7.3 percent through the Southern California offtrack wagering network, and 9.7 percent from out-of-state sources. Combining all figures, the average all-sources handle is down 7.9 percent, he said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In his last venture into the $50,000 optional claiming ranks, Poppa’s Pick had the misfortune of running into the stakes-caliber duo of Driven by Solar and Smokin Hero.
On Thursday, when Poppa’s Pick returns at the same level, he will face another pair of stakes horses, though ones that appear on the decline. That and the apparent abundance of speed in the field figure to make Poppa’s Pick a short price to win the featured sprint at Aqueduct.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The best performance of Celestic Night’s career – so far – was a victory in a first-level optional claimer for turf sprinters at Santa Anita last month, when he rallied from fifth to prevail by 2 1/4 lengths at 13-1.
Celestic Night will not be an outsider when he tries to duplicate that performance in a $63,000 no-conditions allowance race on the hillside turf course in Thursday’s seventh race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The purses of both the Canadian International and its major prep race, the Northern Dancer, have been reduced for this year’s upcoming meeting at Woodbine Racetrack.
The stakes schedule, released Tuesday by the Woodbine Entertainment Group, will feature 102 stakes worth a total of more than $21.6 million.
The Canadian International, formerly worth $2 million, now will offer a $1.5 million purse and the Northern Dancer goes from $750,000 to $500,000.
The connections of unbeaten Uncle Mo, last year’s champion 2-year-old male, announced on Tuesday that their first choice for Uncle Mo’s 2011 debut is the Timely Writer Stakes, scheduled for March 12 at Gulfstream Park.
The other option for Uncle Mo is the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby the same day, which had been the first choice for Uncle Mo until Gulfstream Park created the Timely Writer.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Cozi Rosie’s 2011 season began with a sharp-looking win in Monday’s $150,000 Buena Vista Handicap at Santa Anita, a performance in which she showed no signs of rustiness after a nearly nine-month gap between starts.
