OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. faces possible sanctions from the New York stewards after one of his horses tested positive for a banned substance following a race at Aqueduct on Nov. 20, according to the stewards.
Fastus Cactus, who won the third race at Aqueduct on Nov. 20, is the focus of “an ongoing investigation,” according to state steward Carmine Donofrio, who would not confirm the medication in question or comment further on the matter.
Song of Navarone, who won the $600,000 WinStar Derby at Sunland Park in 2007, has been retired and will stand stud at A & A Ranch in Anthony, N.M., according to Fred Alexander, who owns the facility. Song of Navarone will stand for a fee of $2,500.
Song of Navarone’s other major wins included the $200,000 Zia Park Distance Championship in track-record time in 2008. He also swept Sunland’s series for handicap horses in 2009, when he won the Winsham Lad, Curribot, and Sunland Park Handicap. He was 8 for 21 in his career with earnings of $757,858.
Tim Doocy said Friday that he has officially retired from riding and will represent jockey Eddie Razo Jr. at the Oaklawn Park meet that opens Jan. 14.
Doocy fractured his left kneecap, ankle, and tibia in a training accident a year ago, and while he suspected the injuries might end his career, he said last summer that he would wait to see how his rehabilitation progressed before making a decision.
“I’m done,” he said Friday. “I’ve only got so much bend in my knee and ankle. I can’t ride.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board has rejected a proposed decision from a hearing officer to reduce a suspension against trainer Jeff Mullins from 70 to 40 days for a 2006 medication violation and announced that it will issue a decision of its own.
The racing board rejected the hearing officer’s recommendation on Dec. 16, following its monthly board meeting, but has not indicated when it will decide on a penalty. In a statement on its website, the racing board said it will review documents and further arguments before making a decision.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Omar Berrio was hospitalized Thursday night after suffering a stroke following the races at Santa Anita.
Berrio, 42, rode Celtic Princess to a front-running victory Thursday in the seventh-race feature at Santa Anita. When he arrived home in nearby Temple City about 6 p.m., Berrio’s wife Karina suspected something was amiss.
“I saw it in his face; he said he felt weak on the left side of his body,” she said.
Karina drove Berrio to Arcadia Methodist Hospital, where he was diagnosed with having suffered a stroke.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park filed an application with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation on Friday to reopen for live racing on Dec. 2 of this year, a decision that could lead to a potential dates conflict with neighboring Calder Race Course, which has already applied to run its traditional dates in 2011.
Jannas Pride won his fourth consecutive race on Thursday, when he rallied for a 1 1/2-length win over Deity in the $120,000 Red Hedeman Mile at Sunland Park. It was another neck back in third to Desert Gulch in the one-mile race for 2-year-olds bred in New Mexico.
Jannas Pride ($3.80) settled in fifth early in the race, run under snowy conditions, while Silent Sunday showed the way through six furlongs in 1:12.09. Jannas Pride moved to the lead in the stretch, and went on to cover the distance on a track rated fast in 1:40.33.
Until last week, when the Maryland Jockey Club and its owners, MI Developments and Penn National Gaming, reached an agreement with the state’s horsemen, there was a veil of uncertainty whether there would be any live racing in Maryland in 2011. But Laurel Park will open its gates Saturday for a 49-day meet that runs through March 26, the start of a 146-day season divided into three meets at Laurel and Pimlico.
ARCADIA, Calif. − Comma to the Top, the top 3-year-old in California, will make his 2011 debut Feb. 12 in a stakes at Santa Anita or Golden Gate Fields.
Trainer Peter Miller said Wednesday that the $250,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita or the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby over 1 1/8 miles at Golden Gate Fields will be Comma to the Top’s next start.
The decision will be based on how Comma to the Top works later this month on Santa Anita’s newly installed sand-and-clay track, Miller said. The El Camino Real is run over a Tapeta synthetic surface.
Never Retreat and Category Seven are set to renew their New Orleans rivalry in the $60,000 Blushing K.D. Handicap on Saturday at Fair Grounds – but only if Mother Nature is in a benevolent mood.
The Blushing K.D. is carded for fillies and mares about 1 1/16 miles on turf, but a cold front is forecast to pass through New Orleans on Friday night, bringing with it a chance for the sort of heavy rain Fair Grounds has mainly dodged this meet. If the forecast holds, the Blushing K.D. will wind up on the main track, which will make for an entirely different race than the one on paper.
