MIAMI – Sebastian Madrid has spent the last nine winters riding in Saudi Arabia rather than staying home and fighting the inevitable losing battle trying to secure live mounts against the cream of the Gulfstream Park jockey colony.
But Madrid won’t be leaving town this winter, and for good reason. He’s the regular rider for Gourmet Dinner, upset winner of the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot, who is virtually assured of a starting berth in the 2011 Kentucky Derby based on graded earnings.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – From Nov. 10 through Nov. 17, trainer Rick Schosberg ran seven horses at Aqueduct. They all finished third.
“That’s got to be a record for mediocrity, and I hold it,” Schosberg said. “The only problem is the last two horses we ran finished fourth and fifth so we’re going the wrong way.”
Schosberg hopes to turn things in the opposite direction Thursday when he sends out Whateverittakes in a first-level New York-bred allowance race that serves as the feature on Aqueduct’s nine-race card.
At least the fields will be big. Given the increasingly difficult situation that Turfway Park faces in its slots-less existence, track president Bob Elliston is taking a glass-half-full approach.
“The good story coming out of our fall meet was that we averaged 9.8 horses a race, a nice number by any standard,” said Elliston, noting the reduced four-day-a-week schedule that Turfway undertook during its 16-day fall meet. “Maybe less really is more in terms of giving horseplayers what they want.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Well Armed, winner of the 2009 Dubai World Cup who is unraced since August 2009, has returned to trainer Eoin Harty’s stable at Hollywood Park.
The 7-year-old gelding underwent surgery in summer 2009 to have a bone chip removed from an ankle and had further setbacks earlier this year caused by illness and a slower-than-expected physical recovery that postponed his return to the racetrack. There was hope that Well Armed could return to the racetrack in the spring or summer earlier this year, but those plans were delayed.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has two chances to win the 2,000th race of his career at Hollywood Park on Thursday.
Baffert starts the maiden Star Presence in the first race and Queenie Marini, in the third race, an optional claimer for 2-year-old fillies.
Tuesday, he leaned toward Star Presence as his best chance.
“If I’d go to Vegas and make a bet, I’d say that Star Presence is better than Queenie Marini,” he said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Stronach Stable entry of Perfect Bullet and Sligovitz will likely be favored in Thursday’s eighth race at Woodbine Racetrack, a third-level allowance route with an $80,000-75,000 claiming option.
Perfect Bullet went to the sidelines after running sixth in last year’s Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes July 1. Following a layoff of nearly 16 months, Perfect Bullet wound up sixth in the allowance prep for the Autumn Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Eurico Rosa da Silva took a break from racing last winter, spending time with his family in Brazil and then enjoying an unusual holiday in the South American ecological wonderland of Pantanal.
Da Silva again has something completely different in mind following the end of his 2010 season here at Woodbine Racetrack, his destination will be the wilds of Ozone Park, N.Y., and a campaign at Aqueduct.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The blueprint for Dakota Phone's campaign in coming months may involve international travel.
Dakota Phone won the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6 in a 37-1 upset. He will start at a fraction of that price in Saturday's $100,000 Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park, the first leg of a tentative four-race plan selected by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and his co-owners in the 5-year-old gelding.
Apprentice Jason Gracia was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center on Monday, two days after suffering multiple fractures in a spill at Aqueduct.
Gracia did open his eyes a couple of times Monday morning, according to his agent, Jorge Velasquez, but the 28-year-old jockey still needs a ventilator to help him breathe. Gracia suffered broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and a hairline fracture of his neck during the running of the third race, in which his mount, Ryan and Jack, fell and threw Gracia to the ground.
