Rudy Campas, a fixture among California jockeys for 30 years, died on Wednesday after an illness, his friends said.
Campas, who resided in Rubidoux, Calif., near Riverside, was 85.
Born in Vernon, Texas, Campas had a varied career, and was well known for his success at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. He won 144 races at the bullring track and was among the 10 all-time leading riders at the venue when it closed in 2013.
Santa Anita postponed entries for the Dec. 26 opening-day program from Friday to Sunday to better assess an unsettled forecast in Southern California in coming days.
Widespread rain is forecast from Tuesday to Thursday next week. In a text message released midday Friday, the track’s racing office said entries were delayed “to allow for additional time to evaluate the weather forecast.”
Santa Anita was scheduled to take entries on Friday for the Dec. 26 program, which includes six graded stakes and is typically the track’s best attended program of the year.
Roll On Big Joe, who swept in from Kentucky to win the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes over opening weekend at Oaklawn, will be back, according to trainer Bob Hess Jr. The horse, who last weekend had been cross-entered in the Holiday Cheer on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park, won his fourth stakes of the year in the Ring the Bell.
Many consider the riding colony assembled for the Oaklawn Park meet that opened last weekend one of the deepest in recent memory. The lineup of more than 40 jockeys includes such prominent names as Luis Saez, Joel Rosario, Rafael Bejarano, Ricardo Santana Jr., and Jaime Torres.
Heading into the second week of the meet, Ramon Vazquez and Cristian Torres sat atop the local standings with five wins each, while Francisco Arrieta is hot on their heels with four wins. The men have all been dominant players the last several years at Oaklawn.
Touchuponastar, the standout Louisiana-bred 6-year-old, has returned to regular training after his ridiculously easy Dec. 13 win in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic. Where and when he races next remains to be decided.
Jake Delhomme, the principal in Set-Hut, Touchuponastar’s owner, already has done plenty of thinking about the gelding’s near-term future. He’ll do plenty more.
“There’s a lot to think about,” Delhomme said Friday morning. “I don’t look at that as a burden. I look at it as a privilege.”
On Dec. 26, 2009 at Santa Anita, M One Rifle overcame an outside post in a field of 13 to win the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes from the front at 7-1 for the legendary California trainer Bruce Headley.
Headley, who died in 2021 at the age of 86, was an ace trainer with sprinters, notably the champion Kona Gold.
This year, again on Dec. 26, his daughter Karen will attempt to win her first Malibu Stakes with the outsider Smooth Cruisein, who has placed in two stakes this year.
Skelly, who has been one of the most prolific sprinters to compete at Oaklawn Park, has been retired, it was announced by a representative of the owners on social media. Skelly finished a troubled fifth in Saturday’s $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes.
Skelly is a 6-year-old gelding by Practical Joke who retires with a record of 12 wins from 25 starts for earnings of $2,018,963.
Banishing, who is nearing $2 million in earnings following his runner-up finish in the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn, will likely compete in some of the same local stakes races he did last season in Hot Springs, trainer David Jacobson said.
Banishing, in the Ring the Bell, was making his first start since a troubled 12th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Handle increased more than 22 percent at the two-week daytime Thoroughbred autumn meeting at Los Alamitos that ended on Sunday compared to the corresponding season in 2024, according to figures compiled by Daily Racing Form.
Total handle on races run at Los Alamitos was $17,492,588, significantly higher than $14,307,104 at the 2024 autumn meeting. Both meetings had six days of racing. Handle on races run at the 2023 autumn meeting was more than $17.7 million.
D’code put up the year’s second-highest Beyer Speed Figure for a 2-year-old when winning his debut Sunday at Oaklawn Park and plans are to advance to one of the track’s Kentucky Derby points races next month, according to trainer Ray Ashford Jr.
D’code earned a Beyer of 99 for winning a maiden special weight at six furlongs, two points below the 101 that Brant earned for his debut win in July at Del Mar. D’code covered six furlongs in 1:09.57 while winning off by more than 8 1/4 lengths under Cristian Torres.
