Trainer Bob Baffert sent Conveyance to Oaklawn for last weekend's to learn something about the horse. After Conveyance turned in perhaps the best performance of his career, Baffert now knows Conveyance ships like a pro and handles real, live dirt.
"That puts him right in the Derby picture," Baffert said shortly after the Southwest. "That's what we were looking for."
WHO'S HOT
Bourbon Bay rocketed to the top of the marathon turf division with a blowout win Feb. 21 in at 1 1/2 miles. Even if Loup Breton were to stay on grass (he will not; the Santa Anita Handicap on the main track is next), he would have a tough time beating Bourbon Bay in the remaining Grade 2 marathons - the San Luis Rey on March 20 and San Juan Capistrano on closing day, April 18.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - While New York Racing Association officials were trying cram Thursday's nine-race card in before the worst of a winter storm hit, Friday's nine-race card has already been canceled.
There is a winter storm warning in effect through 6 p.m. Friday, by which time 10 inches or more of snow could be on the ground. Friday's cancellation marks the fifth inner-track card that has been canceled because of weather. Additionally, the Jan. 30 card lost its final six races when the jockeys refused to ride, citing unsafe track conditions.
WHO'S HOT
Alan Garcia
Led all riders in this loaded jockey colony with seven victories last week, which included a hat trick Friday and a double Sunday. All seven of those winners came for different trainers. The most promising of his winners may have been the good-looking 3-year-old maiden Trappe Shot in Sunday's fifth race.
Jose Lezcano
Cherokee Country, whose five victories in 2009 included a track record and a Grade 3 stakes, was named Pennsylvania's horse of the year for 2009 on Wednesday night by the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. The awards are for horses that raced at Philadelphia Park.
Tempted to Tapit was back on the track at Gulfstream for the first time Wednesday since his second-place finish behind Discreetly Mine in Saturday's Risen Star at Fair Grounds. The start was the first for Tempted to Tapit since he won his maiden at Aqueduct five weeks earlier.
Digger will remain the winner of the $70,000 Fire Plug Stakes held at Laurel Park on Jan. 16 after the results of a split sample on a postrace drug test came back negative, thus failing to confirm the results of a preliminary test that showed trace amounts of a banned substance.
"The sample did come back negative from the split laboratory, therefore all charges are dropped," said Mike Hopkins, executive director for the Maryland Racing Commission. "The race remains as is, no action to be taken."
The Grade 3, $250,000 Gotham, scheduled for March 6, has apparently failed to attract any of the notable 3-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Peppi Knows, winner of the Whirlaway, and California-based Tiz Chrome are the only stakes winners currently under consideration for the Gotham, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles over the inner track. Tiz Chrome won the Stuka Stakes at Hollywood Park on Dec. 19 before finishing fourth as the even-money favorite in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes, his first start around two turns.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In a pair of proposed cost-cutting measures, the New York Racing Association is considering eliminating the race-day security barn beginning with the spring meeting at Belmont Park as well as closing the Aqueduct stabling area once the current meet ends.
Some horses stabled at Aqueduct would be moved to Belmont, while others would have the option to stable at Saratoga. There are approximately 500 stalls at Aqueduct. Eliminating the race-day security barn at Belmont would open up about 100 stalls.