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.
Lyle The Crocodile, third in two restricted stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar earlier this year, will have his first start in a graded stakes in the Grade 2 Mathis Mile for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, the opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.
Lyle The Crocodile won two races on the all-weather surface at Dundalk, Ireland, last winter, and is winless in five starts in the United States for trainer Phil D’Amato.
D’Amato has won the Mathis Mile three times, most recently last year with King of Gosford.
Tamara, a Grade 1 winner in 2023, is scheduled to have her first start as a 5-year-old in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 4.
On Monday, Tamara worked five furlongs at Santa Anita in 59.20 seconds, the fastest of 75 recorded works at the distance.
The $100,000 Las Flores is run at six furlongs for fillies and mares and leads to the Grade 2 D. Wayne Lukas Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at seven furlongs on Feb. 7. The Lukas Stakes was previously known as the Santa Monica Stakes.
A trio of stakes for 3-year-old males and a pair of races for 3-year-old fillies that offer qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, highlight the 2026 Aqueduct winter stakes program announced Wednesday by the New York Racing Association.
There are 45 scheduled cards during the winter meet that runs Jan. 1- March 29. Racing will be conducted mostly four days a week (Thursdays through Sundays) until Feb. 20, when racing will be held three days a week (Fridays through Sundays) through March 29.
Parx Racing will cancel its third straight day of racing on Wednesday due to inclement weather. The track has been deemed unfit for racing due to a sharp drop in temperature in the last two days, compounded by the effects of a snowstorm earlier this week.
On Sunday into early Monday, the area around the Bensalem, Pa., track received approximately eight inches of snow. Temperatures during the storm dropped below freezing and have remained low since. Track announcer Jessica Paquette confirmed that the harsh conditions since the storm prevented Parx from reopening this week.
Total handle and average handle per race both declined slightly during Woodbine Racetrack’s recently concluded Thoroughbred meet despite a small uptick in purses, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form.
Total wagering on Thoroughbred races during the 128-day meet dropped 3.9 percent, while average wagering per race declined 1.6 percent, according to the analysis. Woodbine raced 127 days this year, the same as 2024, but the track lost a number of races to weather cancellations, including five on Sunday, Woodbine’s closing day.
The Virginia Racing Commission has approved 48 days of live racing at Colonial Downs in 2026, the most expansive season in the track’s history. After a special three-day meet in March, Colonial will operate four days per week from Thursday, June 25, to Monday, Sept. 7.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s stakes action gets off to a compelling start in race 5, the Janus, with Coppola and Reef Runner facing each other for the third time in the past year. The 11-race card is highlighted by the Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday and Fort Lauderdale Stakes.
