Computer-assisted wagering accounts, whose significant bets can lead to massive changes in final odds, will be denied access to win pools with two minutes to post at the Santa Anita autumn meeting that begins on Friday.
The plan is a continuation of a policy enacted by Del Mar in late July after several instances in which win prices changed dramatically between the time the field was being loaded into the gate and final odds were determined.
White Abarrio returned to the work tab at Gulfstream for the first time since his eventful fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31 at Saratoga, zipping three furlongs in 33.60 seconds before galloping out a half-mile in 46.40 on Thursday.
Coal Battle will be scratched from the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday at Remington Park, trainer Lonnie Briley said Thursday. Coal Battle was the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the race, which would have been his first start since a runner-up finish in the Indiana Derby on July 5.
The defection will leave a field of seven for the Oklahoma Derby.
“As much as I hate to say that, it looks like I’m going to scratch him,” Briley said. “I gave him 30 days off, and he’s just not quite ready to run and I don’t want to run him just to say I ran him.”
The $1 Sunset Six, a pick six wager combining the last three races daily from both Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita, will be offered for the first time Friday, opening day of the Santa Anita autumn meeting.
The bet, which has a 15 percent takeout, will cover the seventh through ninth races at both venues Friday. The Sunset Six does not have a consolation provision. The bet will have a carryover on days in which there are no tickets with six winners.
Jockey Antonio Fresu, who led the standings at the Santa Anita spring meeting and was second at the Del Mar summer meeting, will be limited to graded stakes mounts this weekend at Santa Anita while serving the first three days of a four-day suspension.
He is on a two-race winning streak, will be ridden by the circuit’s leading rider, and is proven in distance races on turf. If there is a time to try the claimer Rastaman Vibe in a stakes, it’s in Saturday’s Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles, according to trainer Steve Knapp.
“Why wouldn’t you give him a chance?” Knapp said. “It’s a short field. We have nothing to lose.”
Buccherino, the winner of the $150,000 Parx Sprint on Saturday, suffered an injury to his left front hoof during the race and will likely have to miss time. Injuries to the hoof have been a recurring issue for the four-time stakes winner throughout, and trainer Alfredo Velazquez said that this case does not appear to be as severe as past setbacks.
The Jockeys’ Guild has expelled members of its organization that rode at Remington Park in Oklahoma City in defiance of a walkout in early September while the guild was in the midst of negotiations over a new fee schedule for riders, the organization said on Tuesday.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The two-week Los Alamitos September meeting that ended on Sunday showed sharp increases in handle on the track’s races, and in number of starters, according to figures compiled by Daily Racing Form.
For the brief six-day season, handle on Los Alamitos races alone grew 41.8 percent from $11,831,737 in 2024 to $16,779,092. Fields averaged 7.72 runners per race compared to 6.38 runners per race at the 2024 September meeting.
Los Alamitos ran 55 races this September compared to 50 last year. The track races only on dirt.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Crazy Mason, who won the Grade 2 Carter in April, heads a field of nine entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Vosburgh Stakes at seven furlongs.
The Carter was one of three straight wins Crazy Mason put together at Aqueduct during the winter and spring. Since the Carter, Crazy Mason has finished third in both the Grade 3 True North and Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga and made a trip to Del Mar where he finished sixth in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby in July.
