Jockey Tim Doocy sustained fractures to his ankle, knee, and hand during a morning training accident at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., on Monday. He was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday afternoon. Oaklawn, which is open for training, begins its meet Jan. 15.
Doocy, 54, was injured when a horse he was pulling up from a work collided with a pony chasing a loose horse. He was taken to St. Joseph's Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Last year at this time, Stud Muffin was enjoying a winter vacation after a successful 4-year-old campaign in which he won the Empire Classic and banked nearly $300,000. Had things gone according to plan in 2009, Stud Muffin would likely be about to embark on another winter hiatus.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The horses who have won four of the last five runnings of the Hollywood Gold Cup are probable starters in Saturday's $100,000 Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park.
But both Lava Man, the winner of the Gold Cup from 2005 through 2007, and Mast Track, the 2008 winner, have something to prove in the Grade 3 race over 1 1/8 miles.
The retired undefeated superstar Zenyatta worked a half-mile at Hollywood Park on Monday, but it does not mean that the winner of 14 races is going to have another start before being bred in 2010.
Trainer John Shirreffs said on Monday that Zenyatta needed the workout "to take the edge off a little." She breezed a half-mile in 50.40 seconds, the eighth fastest of 17 recorded works at the distance.
Zenyatta has not raced since becoming the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, at Santa Anita on Nov. 7.
After a big week for 2-year-old fillies, the boys get a chance to shine this week at Golden Gate Fields.
The one-mile, $50,000 Gold Rush Stakes will be contested Saturday, with multiple stakes winner Our Minesweeper topping the expected cast. A Michael Lenzini-trained son of Idaho sire Cause It, Our Minesweeper won the one-mile Bart Heller in September and has been waiting for another chance to go two turns. He has finished fourth in a pair of sprint stakes since that victory.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bear's Hard Ten ($7.60) made amends for a subpar last effort in allowance company, notching his first stakes in the on Saturday at Woodbine.
Jockey Eurico Da Silva had Bear's Hard Ten in a three-wide stalking position on the backstretch, as Send Him In set lively fractions in the 1 1/16-mile test for 2-year-olds.
Bear's Hard Ten joined Send Him In on the lead on the far turn, and then drew off in the stretch to prevail by 3 3/4 lengths over the lukewarm favorite, Giant's Tomb. Redverse finished third as the lone filly in the seven-horse field.
Quindici Man won his third consecutive stakes Saturday, when he edged Red Lead for a neck win in the $150,000 Zia Park Derby. It was another 7 3/4 lengths back in third to Star Redeemer.
Quindici Man ($10.80) began his stakes streak at Fairplex Park in September, when he won the $50,000 Pomona Derby. He then shipped to Turf Paradise and ran on turf and won the $50,000 Jack Coady Sr. in November.
Black Hills continued his love affair with the 1 1/8-mile distance Sunday, when he won his third stakes at the trip in the at Zia Park. The race was the richest Thoroughbred offering of the meet, which will close Tuesday.
Black Hills ($14.80) has never been beaten at 1 1/8 miles, with his other two starts at the distance resulting in stakes wins at SunRay Park and the Downs at Albuquerque.
In the race at Zia, he was well back, then rallied to overtake Orientate Express in the stretch for a 1 1/4-length win. Black Hills covered the distance in 1:53.22.
