Mon, 02/28/2022 - 17:00

Express Train among A-listers entered to run on Santa Anita Handicap card

Benoit Photo
A quarter-mile into his five-furlong workout Monday, Express Train was joined by stablemate Union Train, who went the final three furlongs with him.

The six graded stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday have been neatly packaged into two sets of three races through the 11-race program, the richest day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.

The stakes are worth a combined $2.45 million, with three Grade 2 races – the $200,000 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs, $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf, and $400,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-yeear-olds at 1 1/16 miles -- positioned from the fourth through sixth for national television coverage.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 14:36

Beautiful Art takes big class jump in San Felipe

ARCADIA, Calif. – Beautiful Art is scheduled to have his stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, a third race in six weeks amidst a somewhat strange late winter campaign.

Beautiful Art was last of eight in a maiden special weight race at six furlongs on Jan. 22 in his debut, but rebounded to win a $200,000 claiming race for maidens at six furlongs on Feb. 11 at 6-1. Trainer Simon Callaghan hoped to start Beautiful Art in a first-condition allowance race, but has instead opted for an entry in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 14:30

Trevor McCarthy rides hard through the wire, and the results show

Barbara D. Livingston
Trevor McCarthy is all smiles returning to the winner's circle aboard Weyburn, the 46-1 upset winner of last year's Gotham Stakes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Got married. Moved from the Mid-Atlantic to New York. Relocated to California. Underwent ankle surgery. Returned to New York. Became a father.

Those are just some of the highlights of the last 14 months for jockey Trevor McCarthy. While life as the father of an 11-week-old daughter is hectic, things have pretty much stabilized for the 27-year-old McCarthy. Healthy in body and mind, McCarthy is enjoying a stellar winter professionally at Aqueduct as he attempts to break into the New York Racing Association colony on a full-time basis.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 14:26

Maldonado hopes to keep stakes roll going in San Carlos

Benoit Photo
Jockey Edwin Maldonado won his third stakes of February on Saturday aboard Alice Marble in the Wishing Well.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In terms of stakes wins, jockey Edwin Maldonado had his best month in nearly a decade in February, winning three stakes at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita.

Merneith won the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes on Feb. 5 at Santa Anita with Maldonado aboard, followed a week later by Blackadder’s victory in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. Last Saturday, Maldonado was aboard Alice Marble for a win in the restricted Wishing Well Stakes for female turf sprinters.

Maldonado last won three stakes in a month in the spring 2013.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 14:00

Stakes runners Geno, Happy Medium euthanized due to training injuries

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Geno (right) wins the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes in December. He was injured during a routine gallop on Saturday and could not be saved.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Geno, winner of the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series, and Happy Medium, a promising older sprinter who finished third in the Grade 3 Toboggan, had to be euthanized last week in separate training incidents over the Belmont Park training track.

Geno, a 3-year-old son of Big Brown, was euthanized Saturday after a gallop over the training track, according to trainer David Donk.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 13:56

Florida shipper Officiating, Chateau to carry 123 in Tom Fool Handicap

Lauren King/Coglianese Photos
The Tom Fool Handicap will be Officiating's first career start at six furlongs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Officiating, the 7-1 upset winner of the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream Park in December, has been confirmed by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. as a starter for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap.

Officiating, a son of Blame, will be cutting back to six furlongs for the first time in what will be the 16th start in his career. He is coming off a third-place finish behind Speaker’s Corner and Fearless in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper going a mile on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 13:56

Baffert sending Rockefeller for one-mile Gotham

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
This weekend will be Rockefeller's second trip to New York. He won the Nashua at the same one-mile distance as the Gotham in his first visit.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rockefeller, who last fall shipped from Southern California to New York to win the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Belmont Park, will again ship cross-country for Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Monday.

The Gotham, like the Nashua, is run as a one-turn mile.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 11:20

Trainer D'Angelo has four-win day between Gulfstream and Turfway

Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photos
After a tough start on Saturday, Jose Ortiz, shown aboard Letruska, won four races on the card.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose D’Angelo capped a recent torrid streak by winning four races Saturday, including three at Gulfstream Park, giving him seven winners for the week (Feb. 23-27). One of those winners was Duel Fuel on Saturday night at Turfway Park, where D’Angelo also has a foothold.

“My best week since I began training in the U.S.A.,” said a jubilant D’Angelo, a 31-year-old native of Venezuela.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 11:16

Fountain of Youth is In Due Time's moment of truth

Barbara D. Livingston
In Due Time is 2 for 3 for Kelly Breen and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure in his most recent start.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The most recent prep for the Kentucky Derby yielded a 75-1 winner when Un Ojo won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park last Saturday.

A similar result Saturday in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park would be far-fetched, but with an expected full gate of 12, there will be some real longshots in the field, if only by mathematical necessity.

Mon, 02/28/2022 - 10:36

Rocco Bowen closes his Tampa Bay meet on high note

Coady Photography
Rocco Bowen ended his first Tampa Bay Downs meet with 21 winners.

Rocco Bowen received a hero’s farewell. Bowen has left Tampa Bay Downs for the season, but not before being honored by a local sponsor as the jockey of the month for February.

Bowen, 32, rode a winner Sunday before departing for his native Barbados to visit his mother and other family members. He will be off several weeks before returning to suburban Chicago, where he has his home, to start riding at the Hawthorne meet that starts April 3.