ARCADIA, Calif. – The only drama on the turf course at Santa Anita on Monday was courtesy of photo finishes.
A day after three riders, including leading jockey Flavien Prat, refused to ride Sunday’s final race because of concern over the condition of the course, four turf races were run without incident Monday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Glass Ceiling, a hard-fought half-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park, will likely make her next start in the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap here on April 9, trainer Charlton Baker said.
The victory was the third straight and fourth in the last five starts for Glass Ceiling, a 5-year-old daughter of Constitution. Her only loss came by a head in a division of the Pumpkin Pie Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Express Train, the winner of two Grade 2 races at Santa Anita this winter, worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds on Monday in advance of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 5.
Trainer John Shirreffs took a different approach to Express Train’s workout under jockey Victor Espinoza. Express Train began alone and was joined at the end of the backstretch by stablemate Union Train, who accompanied Express Train for three furlongs.
“He wanted to relax a bit, and the other horse hooked him and he dug in,” Shirreffs said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Early Voting and Un Ojo, the first- and second-place finishers from the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 5, both returned to the work tab on Monday at Belmont Park as they prepare for their next assignments.
While there has been no decision yet on where Early Voting will start next, Un Ojo was entered Monday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The up-and-coming Florida-bred 3-year-old fillies Hot Peppers and Spirit Wind turned in big performances here last week and could be on a collision course to meet in the $110,000 Sophomore Fillies at Tampa Bay Downs on March 27.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Six potential starters for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 5 worked here over the weekend, led by Simplification, runner-up in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, who zipped five furlongs in 58.53 shortly after the renovation break on Saturday.
Kazushi Kimura, by far the leading jockey at Woodbine in 2021, is scheduled to have his first mount of the year when he rides Halo of Fire in the last race Wednesday at Tampa for trainer Wesley Ward.
Ward said Kimura, 22, has been exercising horses for him in recent weeks at both Palm Meadows and Turfway Park after spending time in his native Japan after the Woodbine meet ended in early December.
Belgrade may have run himself into the Tampa Bay Derby by winning the Saturday opener, a first-level allowance at seven furlongs. The 3-year-old Hard Spun colt was making his second career start and his first for trainer Graham Motion after having been purchased last month at Keeneland for $700,000 by retired Visa executive Carl Pascarella and his wife, Yurie.
Belgrade earned a 72 Beyer when up in the final jumps under Hector Diaz Jr. He was following up on a Dec. 18 debut score at Fair Grounds for prior connections that equated to a 79 Beyer.
Kerri Raven likes doing things her own way. So, too, does her stable star Chess Master, who gave the 49-year-old Ontario native her first stakes victory in a 10-year training career when speeding to a 2 1/2-length victory Saturday in the $91,250 Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs.
“I was so elated when he won that I felt like a little kid,” Raven said Monday from the Oldsmar, Fla., track. “I’m just so proud of him.”
