HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wednesday’s eight-race program is highlighted by a pair of statebred allowance events, both carded at one mile.
A familiar field of 10 older horses will contest the sixth race, which is on turf. The race brings back the first four finishers from a similarly conditioned event here Feb. 18 – Drillomatic, Astroturf, Marisa’s Mission, and Exchange Day. The Wesley Ward-trained Super Design is the most relevant new face in the lineup.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockeys Luis Saez and Irad Ortiz Jr. were both red hot over the weekend. Saez, who holds a commanding edge in the jockey standings with just two weeks left in the Championship meet, won four races Saturday and came back to register three victories, all aboard odds-on favorites, on Sunday’s card. Ortiz registered hat tricks on both days.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – Simplification didn’t have the fastest five-furlong work on Saturday’s tab at Gulfstream Park, not even close to it. That honor went to two other notable Kentucky Derby candidates, the Kenny McPeek-trained team of Smile Happy and Rattle N Roll, who completed the distance in a crisp 58.81 seconds working in company after the second renovation break.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Forbidden Kingdom went back to the track Monday at Santa Anita, none the worse after a fever interrupted his training and forced him to miss a workout last week.
Runaway winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 5 and the leading California prospect for the Kentucky Derby, Forbidden Kingdom galloped a mile and one-eighth at 7 a.m. for trainer Richard Mandella.
“He acts like nothing ever happened,” Mandella said, downplaying the relevance of the March 18 missed work. The trainer suggested Forbidden Kingdom is not compromised.
Florida-breds who went on to prove themselves in Grade 1 company have captured races in the annual Florida Cup at Tampa Bay Downs, with World Approval and Imperial Hint being the most notable winners in recent years.
The Florida Cup will be renewed Sunday at Tampa in Oldsmar, Fla., and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. is hoping the event sets up Shifty She, one of his emerging stable stars, for similar success when she runs in the Distaff Turf, one of six $110,000 races that make up the 19th Florida Cup.
The Kentucky Derby trail swings through New Mexico on Sunday, with Southern California shippers Slow Down Andy, Straight Up G, and Fowler Blue part of a field of eight points-seekers in the Grade 3, $500,000 Sunland Park Derby.
The 1 1/8-mile race will reward its first four finishers Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 50-20-10-5.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez’s first winter at Santa Anita has been a success by any measure. He has won 29 races, including six stakes, and will ride at Santa Anita until he departs for Keeneland after the Santa Anita Derby program on April 9.
Velazquez has trips scheduled for mounts at Gulfstream Park on April 1, Oaklawn Park on April 2, and Keeneland on April 8, according to his agent, Ron Anderson.
After the Santa Anita Derby, Velazquez is likely to return to Santa Anita for major stakes, Anderson said.
The 7-year-old gelding Restrainedvengence, third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in November, will have his 2022 debut in the $75,000 John Shear Mile at Santa Anita on April 2.
A millionaire and eight-time stakes winner, Restrainedvengence has worked four times since mid-February. Saturday, Restrainedvengence worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 for trainer Val Brinkerhoff. Brinkerhoff said he timed him in 59.80 seconds.
With each of his three wins this year, Brickyard Ride has opened up more stakes options.
Brickyard Ride was a proven sprinter when he won his first start of the year, the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in January. In February, Brickyard Ride won his first start at a mile on dirt with no difficulty in the Tiznow Stakes for statebreds.
Sunday, Brickyard Ride won the Sensational Star Stakes for California-breds going 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jonathan Thomas isn’t perfect. Just look at his NCAA bracket.
“No good,” he said with a laugh.
Thomas was, however, perfect last weekend. His 26-horse stable based at Payson Park, some two hours north of Gulfstream Park, went 4 for 4, with three of them winning at Gulfstream (two Saturday, one Sunday) and the other on Saturday at Laurel Park in Maryland.
