OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In less than two weeks, jockey Dylan Davis will find out if he’s greenlighted to begin his return to the saddle. It’s a comeback that he almost thought about not attempting.
Davis suffered a litany of injuries – nine broken ribs, a fractured right collarbone, a partially fractured right arm, a collapsed lung, and he lost a kidney – as a result of a spill at Aqueduct last Nov. 14, the day before his 31st birthday.
Laurel Park will cancel its Sunday card due to “expected frigid temperatures,” a recurring issue for the track as harsh conditions have lingered for weeks in the Mid-Atlantic region.
After postponing both cards at Laurel last weekend, the Maryland Jockey Club originally planned to conduct racing from Wednesday to Sunday this week in order to make up race dates. Races were run from Wednesday to Friday, but both weekend cards have now been postponed or canceled because of similarly cold temperatures and wind chill.
Before the champion Super Corredora starts in Sunday’s $100,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer John Sadler may already have a stakes win this weekend.
On Saturday, Sadler has three runners in two stakes – Namaron in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf, and Mohaven and Umbralle in the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
An attempt at a new distance has resulted in Hiding in Honduras starting in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Sunday and not Saturday’s Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes.
Hiding in Honduras scored a 9-1 upset in his graded stakes debut in the Grade 2 Mathis Mile for 3-year-olds on turf at Santa Anita on Dec. 28, rallying on the inside to win by a neck.
Trainer Jonathan Thomas and owner Robert LaPenta nominated Hiding in Honduras for the Thunder Road Stakes at a mile, but have opted for Sunday’s race at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The odds on horses in Thursday’s first race at Aqueduct were skewed when a large win wager came in on Patience N Grace, a horse listed at 5-1 on the morning-line who went off at odds of 3-10 and finished fourth.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With more arctic-like temperatures in the forecast, the Saturday and Sunday cards scheduled at Aqueduct have been canceled, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
The temperatures for both days will be in the teens, with single-digit wind chill values. On Saturday, winds were forecast between 20 and 30 miles per hour, with gusts up to 40 miles per hour.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced that the Saturday card at Laurel Park will be canceled because of “frigid temperatures,” expected to be made worse by severe wind chill. It will be the third straight Saturday card canceled or postponed at the track.
Laurel originally planned to conduct racing from Wednesday to Sunday this week, adding two race dates in order to run postponed cards from last weekend. On Wednesday, the track offered its first full card since Jan. 23, and all other race dates besides Saturday this week are currently scheduled to continue.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tom Durant has been in racing since the 1980s, but he will be charting some new territory Friday when his homebred D’code chases after Kentucky Derby points in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
“I’ve had some good horses, had some horses that have won a lot of money, but I haven’t ever been in the Derby,” he said. “He will be my first, if he makes it.”
Durant, 76, is the current leading owner at Oaklawn.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Mystik Dan, who won the Southwest Stakes in 2024 before going on to capture the Kentucky Derby, enters stud this year and will have the support of mares owned by his trainer, Kenny McPeek, and some of his clients. They include Take Charge Milady, who won last year’s Martha Washington at Oaklawn.
“She’s going to be bred to Mystik Dan,” McPeek said. “We’re just simply going to get her covered early and put her back in training for the spring and summer.
“We’re going to be taking about 20-plus mares to Mystik Dan this spring.”
Del Mar has altered the conditions of maiden races on dirt for 2-year-olds for its summer meeting to allow horses from all stables to run for maximum prize money, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.
This summer, maiden races for 2-year-olds on dirt will be worth $100,000. Last year, the track offered maiden races on dirt for 2-year-olds with a purse of $80,000.
