HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. is not only running away with the training title, he also has another potential star on his hands, the undefeated 2-year-old Of a Revolution, who cruised to an easy allowance win in his second career start on Saturday while defeating a field that included the highly regarded Simplification, who finished a very disappointing third as the prohibitive 1-5 favorite.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The final week of the fall meet opens with an eight-race program on Thursday topped by a $53,000 allowance dash for fillies and mares that lured a field of seven led by Loriloupies, who exits an easy 4 1/2-length victory against lesser allowance opposition two months earlier.
Loriloupies will break from the rail under Edgard Zayas and figures to be part of a fairly lively pace that could also include Music City Star and Compensate.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Chantal Sutherland began her riding career in 2000, and despite some interruptions along the way has 1,155 victories, 22 of those in graded stakes, and over $55 million in purse earnings on her résumé. But despite those impressive numbers, Sutherland said she’s never been more motivated, or ridden any better, than she is at the present time.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It would’ve been a great day anyway for Norm Casse, one of the best he has ever experienced in a lifetime on the racetrack. Two winners, both in six-figure allowances at Churchill Downs, is exceptional for most any trainer.
Except he wasn’t there. Casse was in a Louisville hospital, poised to revel in the most joyous occasion of his 38-plus years. Shortly after the Friday races at Churchill, about 6:45 p.m. Eastern, Casse was with his wife, Gabby Gaudet, when their first child, Crew Edmond Casse, was born.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mutamakina and La Dragontea, the one-two finishers in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor on Oct. 17 at Woodbine, are both being pointed to the Grade 3, $400,000 Long Island Stakes, on Nov. 27 at Aqueduct, trainer Christophe Clement said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainers Richard Baltas and Ian Kruljac both were fined by Del Mar’s stewards and ordered to “complete a certified course in anger management” in rulings handed down Sunday stemming from incidents earlier this year at Santa Anita.
Baltas was fined $1,000 after disobeying orders from both an examining veterinarian and a security officer on March 3.
Kruljac, son of trainer Eric Kruljac, was fined $500 for discourteous language directed at an examining veterinarian on April 4.
Both were ordered to complete their courses within 90 days.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert had 40 percent of the field for the Desi Arnaz on Saturday and 75 percent of the field for the Bob Hope on Sunday and came away with 100 percent of the victories in those Del Mar stakes last weekend, both designed as preps to important graded stakes next month at Los Alamitos.
Messier, who won the Bob Hope, will be aimed to the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 11. Eda, who won the Desi Arnaz, will go to the Grade 1 Starlet on Dec. 4. Both horses will be trying two turns for the first time in those 1 1/16-mile races.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tyler Gaffalione will head home to Florida at month’s end, but he still has unfinished business in Kentucky.
Seeking a sixth straight meet title at Churchill Downs, Gaffalione spotted his fellow riders a generous early lead atop the local standings when winning with just four of his first 35 mounts at a 21-day fall meet that began Oct. 31.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Domestic Spending and Jack Christopher, the two Chad Brown-trained horses who were scratched out of their respective Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar, will both get extended time off, Brown said Sunday.
Domestic Spending, who was scratched out of the Breeders’ Cup Turf with inflammation in a front leg, will be out of training for a minimum of three months.
“Unfortunately, he suffered a suspensory ligament injury while galloping at Del Mar,” Brown said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Following Sea, third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, is being considered for one of two Grade 1 stakes - the $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 4, or the $300,000 Runhappy Malibu at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 - trainer Todd Pletcher said over the weekend.
In the BC Sprint, Following Sea was beaten only 1 3/4 lengths by Aloha West, getting shut off trying to come up the rail inside the three-sixteenths pole before re-rallying in the three path down the lane. Most observers felt the rail was not the best place to be on Breeders’ Cup Saturday.
