Herp, who rallied to win a first-level allowance sprint at Fair Grounds on Sunday, is being pointed for the Grade 3, $100,000 Lecomte on Jan. 22, said trainer Bret Calhoun. The race, to be run at about a mile, is the first stakes on the road to the Louisiana Derby.
It will also be the first two-turn start for Herp. Calhoun has wanted to run the horse around two turns, but said the routes he entered Herp in failed to fill so he ended up racing over six furlongs on Sunday.
Louisiana Champions Day at Fair Grounds was supposed to be a coming out party for Take Me Home Too. Instead, it ended up being a head-scratcher. Take Me Home Too was the favorite in the $100,000 Lassie after establishing herself as one of the region’s better 2-year-olds over the summer. But when the real running began in the six-furlong race, she dropped back and ended up finishing eighth of 11.
Garrett Gomez will finish second in the money-earnings title this year, ending a four-year run as the national leader.
Gomez, who turns 38 on Saturday, trailed Ramon Dominguez by $453,401 through Tuesday. The purse levels of races at Santa Anita for the last three days of the year were not high enough to make up the difference.
Gomez’s agent, Ron Anderson, noted that through Tuesday Dominguez had 1,455 mounts this year, compared with 775 for Gomez.
Trainer Richard Mandella will spend a few days assessing Arresting Officer before making any plans for the colt, who was second in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes last Sunday.
Arresting Officer was trained by Mike Mitchell for Sunday’s race, but owner Suleman Dhani transferred the colt to Mandella earlier this week.
“He’s a little stiff coming out of the race,” Mandella said of Arresting Officer. “We’re in the process of analyzing him.”
For the connections of most of the 11 horses who will run Friday in the $60,000 Woodchopper at about a mile on turf at Fair Grounds, the race’s appeal is largely the same.
“It’s the last chance to run against straight 3-year-olds,” said trainer Chad Brown, who has sent Upgrade to New Orleans from south Florida.
Trainer Mark Frostad will start the undefeated Red Strike, whose two wins have come at Woodbine.
“It looked like a good spot to go in,” Frostad said. “Next year, he has to step up against the older boys.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Among the pictures hanging on the wall in trainer Mike Hernandez’s Belmont Park barn office is one of him as a groom holding Big Ike in the Oaklawn Park winner’s circle following the 1950 Arkansas Derby.
Sixty years later, the 85-year-old Hernandez – the oldest active trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit – still enjoys getting to the barn by 5:15 each morning, looking for his next stakes horse. Mine Over Matter gave Hernandez his most recent stakes win taking the Salute Me Sir Stakes at Belmont in September.
ARCADIA, Calif. – All Moment of Weakness needs in Friday’s $75,000 Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita is a rival willing to take him on.
In his first three American starts, trainer Jamie Lloyd has noticed that the gelding performs best when running alongside a horse, and not as well when clear. The quirky style has yet to result in a win in this country, but Moment of Weakness was second to the multiple stakes-winning 2-year-old Comma to the Top in the Grade 3 Generous Stakes on turf at Hollywood Park on Nov. 27.
ARCADIA, Calif.– When Wave of Applause finished fifth in the Grade 3 Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 28, trainer Jim Cassidy was already thinking of her next start.
Cassidy decided on an equipment change – a different bit – and expects Wave of Applause to run a better race when she starts in Friday’s $75,000 Blue Norther Stakes at Santa Anita.
PHOENIX – Camp Verde looks to parlay a romping allowance win at Turf Paradise on Nov. 30 into something bigger as he appears the horse to beat in Friday’s $25,000 Luke Kruytbosch Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-olds, named for the former track announcer who passed away in 2008, drew eight.
City Cool gave trainer Steve Asmussen a fourth win in the $100,000 Riley Allison Futurity since 2001 on Tuesday, when he pulled away by 7 1/4 lengths in the 2-year-old stakes at Sunland Park.
City Cool ($5.60) broke on top in the 6 1/2-furlong race and proceeded to lead the field through an opening quarter in 22.45 seconds. Lion Hall moved up to press him from the inside, with City Cool continuing to maintain his advantage through a half-mile in 45.22. Into the stretch, City Cool gave Lion Hall the slip and went on to cover the distance on a fast track in 1:15.53.
