OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tap the Faith, who overcame a slow start to win her career debut by a head, is likely to run in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct, trainer Christophe Clement said.
A daughter of Tapit out of the Grade 1 Alabama winner Embellish the Lace, Tap the Faith was a $1.25 million yearling purchase by Claiborne Farm. She is listed as being owned by Manzanita Stables.
“She’s a beautiful filly, she’s very attractive,” Clement said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Multiple Grade 1 winner Code of Honor and the graded stakes-winning 3-year-old Following Sea are both targeting next Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Stakes at Aqueduct.
Aloha West, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, is also under consideration, according to Aron Wellman, the head of the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners syndicate, which owns the horse.
Los Alamitos begins a two-week season on Friday highlighted by two graded stakes for 2-year-olds.
The season runs through Dec. 12, with racing on Friday through Sunday next week and from Dec. 9-12 on the final week.
The leading races of the brief meeting are the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes on Dec. 4 and the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 11. Both races are run at 1 1/16 miles for 2-year-olds.
Quick workouts, an expensive price tag, and an attractive pedigree have led to high hopes for the 2-year-old colt Got Thunder, who will have his debut in a maiden special weight race at six furlongs on Sunday at Del Mar.
Trained by John Sadler for West Point Thoroughbreds and Michael Talla, Got Thunder is part of a field of seven in the day’s fourth race, the first leg of a 20-cent pick six with a mandatory payout.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato has had plenty of success with European imports in recent years and hopes to have another nugget in Shut Up Michael, a maiden who makes his first U.S. start in Sunday’s fifth race at Del Mar after finishing third in his lone prior start at Sandown Park in Great Britain.
“He’s a high-energy horse. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to get him to settle, get used to his surroundings and how we do things here,” D’Amato said Friday morning. “In terms of being a runner, he shows a lot of promise.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Art Sherman, whose career spanned from Kentucky Derby winners Swaps to California Chrome, is retiring at the end of the year and was feted by Del Mar on Thursday with a brief winner’s circle ceremony and video tribute.
Sherman, 84, trained California Chrome to a pair of Horse of the Year titles, in 2014, when he won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and 2016, when his wins included the Dubai World Cup, Pacific Classic, and Awesome Again.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Larry Jones, best known for his three Kentucky Oaks wins and as the trainer of the ill-fated Eight Belles, said the 2022 spring meet at Churchill will be his last one with outside clients and that he will continue training on a much smaller scale as he moves permanently to Henderson, Ky., for the Ellis Park summer meet and beyond.
“Don’t know if I’ll ever leave town after that,” Jones, 65, said with a laugh. “It’s been a great run.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Envoutante, who became the first horse in 30 years to win the Falls City in back-to-back years by dominating the Grade 2 race again Thursday, will have the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park next April as the first major goal of a 5-year-old campaign, trainer Ken McPeek said early Friday. The Uncle Mo filly earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure for her six-length romp in the slop.
“If she hadn’t run as well as she did, we probably would’ve had her bred,” McPeek said. “But she gave every indication she could be a top horse next year, so we’ll keep going with her.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The curtain comes down on the Churchill Downs fall meet Sunday, but not without Steve Asmussen making sure everybody knows who’s No. 1.
Three-plus months after becoming the all-time winningest trainer in North American racing history with his 9,446th career winner, Asmussen set what is believed to be a record for a single card at Churchill by sending out five winners from just seven starters here Thursday. Those horses were Generator ($5.60), Front Street ($2.80), Regal Retort ($6.60), Treaty of Paris ($21), and All In Sync ($5.80).
A year ago, Whizkey Glasses was proving difficult to break as a yearling. Owner Matt Dunn recalled earlier this month that Whizkey Glasses was so cantankerous that he had to be sedated to be shod.
Whizkey Glasses was a colt then. Whizkey Glasses is now a gelding.
A year removed from those antics and well into his racing career, Whizkey Glasses has a chance to become the first horse to win the Golden State Million and Los Alamitos Two Million futurities since the filly Flash and Roll in 2018.
