HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. − About the time Soaring Empire was walking toward the starting gate for last Saturday’s Grade 3 Hal’s Hope, owner Rick Pitino was pulling into his son’s driveway in Gainesville, Fla. Pitino arrived just in time to watch on television as the star of his stable rallied to the first graded stakes win of his career.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park was able to open its track for training for the first time since last Sunday late Friday afternoon, and plans to race as scheduled on Saturday.
The track was forced to cancel its opening-day card on Friday.
A snowstorm blew into Hot Springs late Sunday and forced the cancellation of training from Monday through Thursday. The track opened just before 4 p.m. Central on Friday, and about 20 horses were training in the first set. Maintenance crews had been harrowing the track since 8:30 a.m. Central.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sidney’s Candy, who was withdrawn from Saturday’s San Fernando Stakes at Santa Anita after he was found to be walking unsound Friday, will undergo a nuclear scan test on his right hind leg Monday, trainer John Sadler said.
Sadler downplayed the severity of the problem, which he said was first noticed Friday.
“He was off a little behind,” Sadler said. “I don’t think it’s serious. He wasn’t really 100 percent. It’s his right hind. I don’t think it’s anything major.”
Jockey Omar Berrio, who suffered a minor stroke Dec. 30, is scheduled to resume riding Sunday. Berrio is booked to ride Straightomidnight in the first race, a one-mile race for $18,000 to $20,000 claimers.
On the evening of Dec. 30, Berrio was hospitalized after showing discomfort. The 42-year-old jockey said he is now taking blood pressure medication.
“The next day, I felt better,” he said.
Berrio was released from the hospital Jan. 1 and resumed working horses at Santa Anita last week.
Officials at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., announced Friday that the purse for the 2011 Kentucky Oaks has been doubled to $1 million-guaranteed – making it the richest North American race for 3-year-old fillies – while also releasing the balance of the stakes schedule for the 2011 spring meet.
As usual, the $2 million Kentucky Derby will be the centerpiece of the meet. The 137th running of the Derby is set for May 7, when five other stakes will be run.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. − Win Willy puts a lot into his training, and his aggressive style might serve him well Sunday, when he faces six others in the $75,000 Fifth Season at Oaklawn Park.
A 1 1/16-mile race, the Fifth Season was carded as Friday’s season opener in Hot Springs, but freezing temperatures forced the cancellation of that program as well as five consecutive mornings of training at Oaklawn.
OZONE PARK, N.Y.– Visiting the Aqueduct winner’s circle this winter has become a habit for trainer Linda White.
White, a longtime assistant to former New York Racing Association circuit kingpin Gasper Moschera, is 3 for 6 this winter at Aqueduct, her most recent victory coming with R Betty Graybull in Thursday’s $60,000 Leecoo Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares.
Not bad for a trainer with just six horses and who this time last year was an assistant trainer, working with a fringe Kentucky Derby prospect while basking in the sunshine on the West Coast of Florida.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. − Quiet Giant lived up to her 1-2 odds when she overpowered her five rivals in winning the $60,000 Cheap Seats Stakes by 8 3/4 lengths going a mile over Aqueduct’s inner track last month.
The competition gets only slightly tougher Sunday, when Quiet Giant meets four opponents in the $60,000 Lady on the Run Stakes, also scheduled for one mile over the inner track. The Lady on the Run takes the place of the $65,000 Affectionately Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares that did not attract enough entries to be carded.
A relatively unaccomplished 3-year-old division at Turfway this winter became thinner this week, when Turfway Prevue winner Inhisglory was shipped to New Orleans to join the Fair Grounds barn of trainer Mike Stidham.
Stidham is one of two principal trainers for owner Peter Redekop, who purchased Inhisglory shortly before the horse won the Turfway Prevue on Jan. 8.
Wayne Mogge trained Inhisglory to win the Prevue and had owned him in partnership before the sale.
