OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Angel Serpa, the leading apprentice jockey at Aqueduct this winter, was slapped with a 30-day suspension by track stewards for "gross careless riding" in Saturday's .
Serpa, who on Sunday began serving a five-day suspension handed him by the Philadelphia Park stewards for careless riding, won't be eligible to ride again until April 25, closing day of the Aqueduct spring meet.
Dancing in Silks, the Breeders' Cup Sprint winner, has gone to the sidelines after two disappointing runs this year. In his absence, Bob Black Jack looked poised to assume the top spot in the California sprint division following his victory in last month's San Carlos Handicap. But he has been retired after injuring a suspensory ligament in a workout last week at Hollywood Park, a crushing setback to trainer James Kasparoff, who only has a handful of horses.
"For me, it's a pretty big blow," Kasparoff said. "He's the best horse I've been around."
ARCADIA, Calif. - It is time for Tuscan Evening to take her show on the road. After winning her third straight race and ninth in 13 starts in the Santa Ana Handicap on Sunday, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Tuscan Evening would make her next start on the Kentucky Derby undercard in the Grade 2, $250,000 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs on May 1.
But that race will be a means to an end. Tuscan Evening, 5, has won five graded stakes races, but has yet to win a Grade 1 race, something Hollendorfer and owner William de Burgh are intent on securing.
New York horsemen said Sunday's rally at Belmont Park and the boycotting of that day's first race at Aqueduct were just the beginning of their efforts to try and pressure government officials to make a decision regarding the stalled casino project at Aqueduct.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Trainer Kathleen O'Connell, who has been atop the trainer standings much of the current Tampa Bay Downs meeting, shows little signs of slowing down.
O'Connell, who enjoyed her best season ever in 2009, has won with 6 of her last 20 starters and has 41 wins at the meet, eight more than Jamie Ness. Ness, who scored a training double on Saturday, is four wins ahead of Dale Bennett, who also had a big day on Saturday, sending out three winners on the program.
NEW ORLEANS - If Giant's Tomb is going to accomplish what his connections want him to, they will have to ask him, perhaps forcefully.
Long on talent and short on a desire to work, Giant's Tomb returns off a narrow defeat in Monday's feature race at Fair Grounds, a first-level allowance with a $50,000 claiming option, for 3-year-olds at a mile and 40 yards.
Nominated to the Triple Crown, and with a long-term goal of running in the Queen's Plate in Canada, Giant's Tomb's connections stay away from the term "lazy."
MIAMI, Fla. - The as-yet unidentified horse who displayed symptoms of a neurological disorder Saturday at Calder died on Monday morning, according to track officials.
Michelle Blanco, the director of advertising and public relations at Calder, said she was informed by John Marshall, the track's vice president and general manager, at approximately 9:30 a.m. of the horse's death.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Although he is notorious for changing his mind each day, trainer Bob Baffert said he is leaning toward having Lookin At Lucky make his final prep for the May 1 Kentucky Derby in the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3.
The other race under consideration for Lookin At Lucky is the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 10 at Oaklawn Park, where Lookin At Lucky won the March 13 Rebel Stakes in his 3-year-old debut. That also marked his first start on dirt, and with blinkers.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park will run an abbreviated eight-race program on Sunday with post time for the first race set for 1:44 p.m.
The decision to cancel both the first and sixth races on Sunday's card comes in the wake of the announcement late Saturday that the Calder barn area had been quarantined after an unidentified horse stabled in barn 77 displayed symptoms of a possible neurological disorder. Original reports received from Gulfstream officials that the horse had been euthanized proved to be incorrect.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tuscan Evening is good enough to win when circumstances are against her. When they are all in her favor, she's practically unstoppable. Left alone on the front end in the Grade 2, $150,000 on Sunday at Santa Anita, Tuscan Evening turned on the jets down the stretch and scored a front-running, 1 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile grass race for older fillies and mares.