OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Sahin Civaci suffered another setback in his bid to start his New York riding career.
Civaci suffered a hairline fracture of the T4 and T5 vertebrae in his back as the result of being unseated by his mount, Despo’s Dream, who stumbled at the break of Thursday’s seventh race at Aqueduct. Initially, it was believed that Civaci suffered broken ribs, according to his agent Mike Sellitto, but an MRI performed Friday morning showed something different.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rated by Merit missed a little time due to a fever following his victory in the Discovery Stakes on Oct. 4, but on Friday he worked a half-mile in 48.14 seconds over the Belmont Park training track and remains on schedule for the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile on Dec. 6.
Rated by Merit, working by himself over a track that was not yielding quick times, got his last quarter in 23.81. It was his second work since the Discovery.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Fully Subscribed, winner of the Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes on Nov. 8, may not be done racing this year.
Trainer Chad Brown said Friday that he will talk to owner Seth Klarman about possibly running her back in the Grade 3, $200,000 Comely Stakes here Dec. 7. Last year, Brown won the Comely with Pretty Ana after that filly was narrowly defeated in the Mother Goose. Pretty Ana was retired earlier this year after developing ankle issues.
This already has been a banner year for the trainer Brendan Walsh, and it is not over yet.
With about six weeks still left in 2025, Walsh has hit career bests in all the major categories. He has won 116 races, more than any previous year, and has stable earnings greater than $13.8 million, about $2.4 million more than his previous top. Walsh has won 21 stakes, surpassing his previous high of 16, and has 15 graded stakes wins, six more than his best.
Trainer Kevin Scholl said last month his goal for Miss Code West this season is a third consecutive horse of the meet title at Remington Park. He will be looking to strengthen her case in Saturday night’s eighth race, a 6 1/2-furlong, no-conditions allowance race for fillies and mares bred in Oklahoma.
Miss Code West enters off back-to-back stakes wins at Remington. She won the Bob Barry Memorial on Sept. 12 and the Oklahoma Classics Night Distaff Turf on Oct. 17. In her other start this season at Remington, Miss Code West was second in an allowance sprint Aug. 16.
Free Like a Girl, who was a $500,000 buyback at a recent auction in Kentucky, is scheduled to return to Louisiana next week, according to co-owner and trainer Chasey Deville Pomier.
She said Free Like a Girl would likely ship into Delta Downs, but the stable also has a division at Fair Grounds.
“She’s coming home,” Deville Pomier said Tuesday. “We’re just taking it day by day and will see what we’re going to do with her.”
Explora, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up, is among the 10 fillies that trainer Bob Baffert nominated to the Starlet at Los Alamitos. Baffert stopped short of committing Explora to the race but said “She came out of [the Breeders’ Cup] very well. I have a bunch nominated” to the Starlet.
Baffert has won the last eight editions of the Starlet. In addition to Explora, his top nominees include Himika, who will be the odds-on favorite Sunday at Del Mar in the seven-furlong Desi Arnaz, and Bottle of Rouge, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante.
Trainer Michael McCarthy did not win a Breeders’ Cup race this year, but his horses all fired. Journalism finished fourth in the Classic; Formidable Man finished second in the Mile; Stark Contrast finished second in the Juvenile Turf; and second-time starter Meaning finished fourth in the Juvenile Fillies.
Journalism was still stabled at Santa Anita as of midweek, but he will ship out soon for a winter vacation. McCarthy said the Metropolitan Handicap is his first main objective for 2026. Formidable Man also is getting a break.
Hey Nay Nay, the John Sadler-trained colt who finished 10th in the BC Juvenile Turf, will be nominated to the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes on Nov. 30 at Del Mar.
“He came out really good, he’s a possible to go back in the” DeMille, Sadler said.
From a pace perspective, Hey Nay Nay did not have a good trip in the Juvenile Turf. He got caught up in a duel with Outfielder, who finished last. Hey Nay Nay hung tough to near midstretch before he faltered.
Full Serrano had excuses for finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, a race he won a year ago. This year, things did not go his way. The 4-1 second betting choice, Full Serrano pressed blistering fractions and retreated on the far turn. He was unaccustomed to a severe pace – 44.96 seconds and 1:09.08 – and he also was compromised by a foot issue.
“He came out of it with a little bit of a [tender] left foot,” trainer John Sadler said. “I have to get that squared around and then we’ll figure out a campaign. We still believe in him.”
