Sun, 01/23/2022 - 20:15

Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon on target for Saudi battle 

Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
Mandaloun was given a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure for the victory in the Louisiana Stakes on Saturday.

Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon, the one-two finishers in the Louisiana Stakes on Saturday, both appeared Sunday to have come out of the race in good physical condition and remain on track to start Feb. 26 in the $20 million Saudi Cup.  

Sun, 01/23/2022 - 20:01

Top three finishers in Lecomte could meet again in Risen Star

Hodges Photography / Jan Brubaker
Call Me Midnight returned $59 in winning the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday.

NEW ORLEANS – Less than one length separated the top three finishers in Saturday’s Lecomte Stakes, and the trio could meet again Feb. 22 at Fair Grounds in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes.  

Sun, 01/23/2022 - 16:53

Desormeaux optimistic about Stilleto Boy's chances in Pegasus World Cup

Coady Photography
Barraza earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97 for the victory in the Clocker's Corner on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Barraza gave Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux his first stakes win of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting with an easy victory in Saturday’s $77,900 Clockers' Corner Stakes for turf sprinters.

Desormeaux, 51, will be after a much bigger prize next Saturday when he rides at Gulfstream Park for the first time since 2014 on Stilleto Boy in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 15:54

Jockey Mychel Sanchez suspended 60 days for betting

Jerry Dzierwinski/Maryland Jockey Club
Mychel Sanchez was the leading rider at Parx in 2020 and has recently been riding at Parx and Laurel Park. On Friday afternoon, 1 S/T Racing, the owner of Laurel, placed an "indefinite ban" on Sanchez at all of its facilities.

Jockey Mychel Sanchez, who has won more than 100 races a year since 2017, was suspended by Pennsylvania regulators on Thursday for 60 days for violating a rule that prohibits jockeys from betting on any horses but their own mounts in a race, according to racing regulators.

Although officials for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Thoroughbred Horse Racing did not respond to phone calls on Friday, the executive director of the Maryland Racing Commission said on Friday that Sanchez had been removed from his three mounts on Friday at Laurel Park due to the ruling.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 15:00

Super Stock targets Razorback for 2022 debut

Coady Photography
Super Stock wins the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April.

Super Stock, the winner of last year’s Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn, is on pace to launch his 4-year-old season Feb. 12 in the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback, said trainer Steve Asmussen.

The Razorback will be run over 1 1/16 miles. Super Stock won the Zia Park Derby at the distance in November.

The earner of $1.1 million races for Erv Woolsey and Asmussen’s parents, Keith and Marilyn Asmussen.

“He’s been more than a gift,” said Steve Asmussen.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 14:56

Apprentice Medellin coming to ride at Oaklawn

The Sunland Park-based apprentice jockey Erick Medellin is scheduled to join the Oaklawn Park riding colony in early February, according to his agent, Dominic Rivera. Bill Castle will have Medellin’s book at Oaklawn, said Rivera.

Medellin is the 20-year-old son of jockey Alejandro Medellin. The older Medellin is a winner of more than 1,500 races with mount earnings in excess of $30 million, according to records from Daily Racing Form.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 14:06

Glass Ceiling, Aunt Kat find alternative to Interborough Stakes

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Glass Ceiling wins the Garland of Roses in December at Aqueduct.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When the $100,000 Interborough Stakes didn’t have enough entries to be run Jan. 15, it left the connections of Glass Ceiling and Aunt Kat searching for an alternate spot. They found one in a multi-conditioned allowance going seven furlongs Sunday at Aqueduct. The purse is $88,000.

Glass Ceiling is coming off a victory under Dylan Davis in the Garland of Roses Stakes at Aqueduct on Dec. 11. That was race at six furlongs. Trainer Charlton Baker likes her at this seven-furlong distance.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 14:06

Hagler adding blinkers for Jimmy Winkfield Stakes

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Hagler won a maiden race (above) and an allowance before running fifth in the Jerome.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hagler, fifth in the one-mile Jerome Stakes on New Year’s Day, will shorten up to seven furlongs and get blinkers for the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield on Jan. 30, trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Friday.

Prior to his Jerome defeat, Hagler won an allowance race going seven furlongs at Aqueduct. Rodriguez felt that Hagler didn’t pay full attention in the Jerome.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 14:00

Summer in Saratoga out of Krantz Memorial; will try Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf

Amanda Hodges Weir/Hodges Photography
Summer in Saratoga wins the Blushing K. D. She will run next Saturday in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Summer in Saratoga would have been no worse than second choice Jan. 22 at Fair Grounds in the $100,000 Marie Krantz Memorial, but trainer Joe Sharp on Friday said the mare was being withdrawn from the race to take her chance next weekend in the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Fri, 01/21/2022 - 14:00

Empty Tomb gets golden opportunity to run in the Pegasus World Cup

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Empty Tomb wins a one-mile allowance at Aqueduct on Nov. 28. He will scratch from Saturday’s Jazil Stakes for a possible run in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Owner John Grossi and trainer Robert Falcone Jr. don’t typically get to run in races with seven-figure purses. So, when they received a call from Gulfstream Park officials inviting them to run Empty Tomb in next Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup, they couldn’t resist the temptation.