LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - A stable without Freaky is hard for trainer Adan Farias to imagine.
In the moments after Freaky clinched the 2009 Quarter Horse World Champion title with a victory in last Saturday's $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos, Farias said the 4-year-old gelding would be rested through the spring and summer and would return to racing next September.
Coyote Legend and Tin Top Cat are being pointed to separate $125,000 divisions of the Texas Stallion Stakes at a mile at Sam Houston on Feb. 20, following their wins in a pair of seven-furlong stakes on the Texas Champions Day card Dec. 5.
Coyote Legend made his first start beyond six furlongs in the $50,000 Groovy and relished the added ground, winning by three lengths. For the effort, he earned an 81 Beyer.
Jockey Jermaine Bridgmohan, who won the Remington title at the Oklahoma City meet that wrapped Monday, was nearing the end of a 22-hour drive to Miami when reached by phone Wednesday morning. He has been making the trip with a friend.
"We knew we were going the right way because the temperature has been going up," joked Bridgmohan, 21.
Turf Melody has put his name in the mix for some of next year's early 3-year-old route stakes following his career performance last Sunday in the at Remington Park. He was up for a nose win after trouble in the stretch, and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 80.
"He ran super," said Graham Motion, who trains Turf Melody. "That's kind of what I'd always hoped he was capable of doing. It's taken us a while getting there. I think the two turns on the dirt was the key."
Sam P. was pulled up by jockey Calvin Borel shortly after finishing seventh in the Prairie Bayou Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park and was vanned off. The 5-year-old horse, however, suffered no injuries whatsoever, according to Buff Bradley, the trainer of Sam P.
"He's back training like a million dollars," Bradley said early Wednesday. "Calvin was just being cautious."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Citing a "potential data error with its new online box office," Churchill Downs announced Wednesday morning that online sales of a limited number of tickets to the 2010 Kentucky Oaks and Derby have been delayed indefinitely.
The tickets were scheduled to go on sale Wednesday at noon Eastern, but about an hour before the sales were to start, the company put out a media release saying the new sales website, tickets.churchilldowns.com, had been found to have "potential customer service issues." A date and time for the sales has not been set.
MIAMI - Calder officials announced Wednesday that they have canceled both the $100,000 Tropical Turf and My Charmer handicaps that had originally been scheduled but postponed on Dec. 5 due to a quarantine that restricted travel in and out of the barn area. Both the Tropical Turf and My Charmer are Grade 3 events.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bob Baffert had a dilemma on his hands. He needed to get important workouts into several horses Tuesday, but the horses were stabled at Santa Anita, whose main track had drainage problems that closed the track Sunday and curtailed training availability Monday.
MIAMI - Nominations are out for the three graded stakes on the docket here at Calder on Dec. 26, and from the looks of things, local fans are in for some real post-Christmas joy.
The Grade 2 W.L. McKnight highlights the card and will feature the appearance of two-time defending champion Presious Passion, who will make his first start since his courageous second-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf. Trainer Mary Hartmann has already declared her intention to bring Presious Passion back to try for the three-peat in the 1 1/2-mile McKnight.
