Sierra Sunset, who has not raced since winning the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes last March at Oaklawn Park, is part of a 15-horse string Northern California-based trainer Jeff Bonde began shipping to Oaklawn on Wednesday. It will be the first division of horses Bonde has ever had at the Hot Springs, Ark., track, which opens its meet on Jan. 16.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A revised maintenance program for the Pro-Ride racing surface is being introduced at Santa Anita, where winter elements and high traffic compacted the surface and might have been factors that contributed to an unusually high number of racing injuries the first week of the meet, said Pro-Ride founder Ian Pearse.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Puttingonthemist finished second as the 9-5 favorite in Wednesday's fourth race at Gulfstream Park, but the race was a victory for her trainer, Kathy Ritvo, who really beat the odds just to be there to saddle the 3-year-old filly in the maiden claiming race on the turf.
The $400,000 Lone Star Derby and the $400,000 Lone Star Park Handicap will once again serve as the richest of 32 stakes worth a cumulative $3.5 million during the 65-date spring meet at Lone Star Park. The season will open April 9 and run through July 26.
The Lone Star Derby and Lone Star Handicap are two of five Grade 3 races to be run during the meet. The derby, at 1 1/16 miles, will be run May 9. It will share a card with two $125,000 divisions of the Texas Stallion Stakes.
NEW ORLEANS - Having just broken his own record for wins in a season during 2008, trainer Steve Asmussen has hit the slow-mo button to start 2009. This is evidenced by the fact that Asmussen entered horses in only 10 of the 11 races Saturday at Fair Grounds. Say what, Steve? Nothing for the $5,000 nonwinners-of-two Louisiana-bred claimer to begin the afternoon?
Churchill Downs will again offer three separate pools for its Kentucky Derby Future Wager this year but will scale back the Kentucky Oaks future wager to one pool, the company announced on Tuesday.
The pools for the Derby wager will be offered Feb 12-15, March 12-15, and April 2-5. The Kentucky Derby is scheduled for May 2 this year.
Jockey Jon Court plans to ride at the Oaklawn Park meet that opens Jan. 16, and the move could mean a year-round return to the Midwest for the rider, who is now based in Southern California.
"I would like to see it," Court said Tuesday. "I've got family there, and we do miss the Midwest. We got out here, got comfortable, came with a five-year goal, and achieved that.
"This is something we've been discussing over a period of time."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - An Argentine restaurant named Las Brisas caters to a racetrack crowd on the oceanside boardwalk in nearby Hollywood, the most overt sign being the terrific memorabilia on the walls. Ken McPeek has taken notice of a photo from Gulfstream Park in 1999 that shows Lemon Drop Kid winning what appeared to be an everyday allowance race on a January afternoon.
Golden Gate Fields closed its Tapeta surface to training on Monday and Tuesday to perform routine maintenance, said the track's general manager, Robert Hartman.
Hartman said he had received complaints from some trainers of a recent increase in injuries while racing or training on the surface. One trainer, Bud Klokstad, said that three of his horses have been taken out of training because of injuries on the Tapeta since the meet opened Dec. 26, and that he didn't have any such injuries on the surface last year.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When a 3-year-old puts together a three-race winning streak and/or registers an impressive speed figure he becomes fodder for Kentucky Derby discussion.
But the connections of Haynesfield - a 3-year-old who has three straight victories and one triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure - will let everybody else do the talking for now. As far as Derby discussions among themselves go, they claim none has taken place.
