CYPRESS, Calif. – For most jockeys, the final race of an afternoon program at Los Alamitos marks the end of the day.
For 17-year-old apprentice Diego Herrera, the last race of the afternoon represents halftime.
In recent months, particularly at the two-week Los Alamitos December Thoroughbred meeting that ends Sunday, Herrera has ridden races during afternoon and evening programs.
Beyond Brilliant, winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 27 at Del Mar, worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds on Friday at Santa Anita for a potential start in the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile on turf on Dec. 26.
Beyond Brilliant is trained by John Shirreffs, who said the colt’s progress in the next 10 days will determine whether the Mathis Brothers Mile is an appropriate race.
The $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds is one of six graded stakes on the Dec. 26 opening-day program at Santa Anita.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of allowance events, one each on dirt and turf, highlight Sunday’s 10-race card that kicks off with a 12:30 p.m. first post.
The ninth race drew a full field of 12 plus two also-eligibles to go a mile on the grass for a $61,000 purse and should prove a head-scratcher for handicappers as the penultimate leg of the popular Rainbow 6 sequence.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It might have been a surprise to many that Strike Hard went postward the favorite, at 7-5, over the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained pair of A. P.’s Secret and Skippylongstocking in last Sunday’s allowance feature. But the public got it right, with Strike Hard rallying to a convincing four-length victory over A. P.’s Secret, a result which didn’t surprise the promising 2-year-old’s trainer, Matthew Williams, in the least.
Two Emmys, who finished second last season in the richest turf race at Fair Grounds, the Muniz Memorial, and who upset Domestic Spending in the Grade 1 Mister D. Stakes this past August, is a possible runner Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes.
Pappacap found favored Corniche too much to handle in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, though he finished a strong second at Del Mar capping a successful 2-year-old season.
Pappacap went from California to Casse Farm in Florida following his Breeders’ Cup runner-up performance, and trainer Mark Casse said Thursday that plans call for Pappacap to begin his 3-year-old campaign in New Orleans in the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 22.
STICKNEY, Ill. -- Fort Prado, a 20-year-old Illinois-bred millionaire, had to be put down earlier this week due to complications from laminitis, a painful condition that afflicts the hooves and can be irreparable in advanced stages.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Flightline is not the only 2-for-2 Tapit colt training for the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. But whether Triple Tap actually runs in the Malibu is another matter entirely.
Sired by Tapit and a sibling to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Triple Tap scored a sparkling allowance win on Nov. 5 at Del Mar, six furlongs in 1:08.44 to earn a 97 Beyer Speed Figure. Triple Tap is bred and owned by Summer Wind Equine of Jane Lyon, who prefers not racing her horses against one another.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Recent throat surgery has done wonders for lightly raced Missy P., who is likely to launch her comeback in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old sprint fillies on Dec. 26, opening day of the Santa Anita winter meet.
“I could change my mind and go in” an allowance race, trainer Richard Mandella said. “But the way she’s training, I’m going to go ahead and try” the La Brea.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gamine, third as the odds-on favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, remains stabled at Santa Anita and could stay in training next year at age 5, trainer Bob Baffert said.
“I have until February to decide,” Baffert said. “As long as she stays sound, and she is sound, she could” campaign in 2022.
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