Prominent California trainer Richard Baltas has been ordered to appear at a hearing with Los Alamitos stewards on July 1 regarding allegations that he administered unpermitted substances to 23 horses on race days at Santa Anita between April 15 and May 8.
The California Horse Racing Board published a complaint Tuesday, stating video surveillance of Baltas’s stable showed substances being administered by the trainer’s employees.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Jeffrey Englehart begins a 10-day suspension Wednesday after the horse Profusion tested positive for phenylbutazone following a sixth-place finish in the fourth race at Aqueduct on April 8. Phenylbutazone is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that can be used to treat lameness.
Engelhart, who was also fined $1,000, waived his right of appeal.
The suspension is for 10 calendar days and lasts through July 1. Englehart runs horses at Finger Lakes where he is the leading trainer with 16 wins. Finger Lakes conducts racing Mondays through Wednesdays.
Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, has adjusted some post times for the remainder of the meet, with first post for most Saturday and Sunday cards moved up to 11 a.m. Central.
First post for weekend cards had been 1:35 p.m. The forecast for this Saturday is a high of 104 degrees, according to AccuWeather.
Lone Star official Brandon Leigh said the decision to alter post times was made Monday morning due to the forecast for extreme heat. He said the concern was for the safety of both the riders and horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolden flew around the Santa Anita turf course last Friday to win a six-furlong allowance race on turf for statebreds by 7 3/4 lengths in 1:07.50, the second-fastest time at the distance at the 76-day winter-spring meeting.
That might be the last time Bolden races on turf in the near future, even though he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 103.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After winning her debut in Saturday’s $100,500 Fasig-Tipton Debutante at five furlongs at Santa Anita, Stone Silent will be considered for two graded stakes at Del Mar this summer – the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at six furlongs on Aug. 13 and the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Sept. 10.
Trainer John Sadler thinks she’ll have a better chance to win a graded stakes in a sprint than going two turns.
“She’s just precocious,” Sadler said on Sunday. “She’s definitely a one-turn horse.”
With another heat wave bearing down on the Midwest, Churchill Downs, which lost two cards to excessive heat last week, has adjusted post times for its Wednesday card.
The first post for Wednesday’s nine-race program has been moved up to 10:30 a.m. Eastern from its originally scheduled 12:45 p.m. The final race of the day is now set for 2:20 p.m., before temperatures continue to climb later in the afternoon.
Training hours Wednesday morning have been adjusted and the track will be open from 5 to 8 a.m., with one renovation break, at 6:30.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Country Grammer, winner of the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March, has returned to California for a summertime comeback.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Country Grammer worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds, his first major exercise since the 5-year-old was sent to the West Coast after an early spring rest in Kentucky.
Country Grammer, owned by Commonwealth Thoroughbreds, Winstar Farm and Amr Zedan, is under the care of trainer Sean McCarthy, but will be switched in early July to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, McCarthy said.
Hot Rod Charlie was in good condition Sunday and headed from New Jersey to Keeneland on a van after his second-place finish Saturday at Monmouth Park in the $150,000 Salvator Mile.
Trainer Doug O’Neill has about a dozen horses stabled at Keeneland and said Hot Rod Charlie would train there in advance of a likely start in the $1 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 6 at Saratoga.
“We’ll huddle up in a week or so and make sure, but the tentative plan is the Whitney,” O’Neill said.
Trainer Brad Cox already had Cyberknife, winner of the Arkansas Derby in April and the Matt Winn Stakes earlier this month at Churchill Downs, aimed at the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 23 at Monmouth Park. Now, that race is one of a few that will come under consideration for Home Brew, whom Cox sent from Churchill to Monmouth for a sharp victory in the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes on Saturday.
Rafael Bejarano recorded his 500th victory at Churchill Downs as he piloted the 2-year-old filly Just Cindy, from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify, to a debut victory on Friday.
Just Cindy earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 70 for her 2 1/4-length win going 5 1/2 furlongs. The filly, a Clarkland Farm homebred trained by Eddie Kenneally, is out of stakes winner Jenda's Agenda. She became the third winner from the first crop of Justify.
