There are a lot of details to sort out over the coming days in regards to Essential Quality’s immediate future, but trainer Brad Cox said Saturday that the colt would likely make just two starts prior to next May’s Kentucky Derby.
“I’d have to think three would be a little bit of a stretch prior to the Derby,” Cox said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Vequist emerged from her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in good order and will soon head to Florida for about 45 days of rest, trainer Butch Reid reported early Saturday at Keeneland.
“She’ll soak up some sun and pick on some grass,” said Reid, who trains Vequist for the three-way partnership of Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, and Thomas McGrath.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher became just the eighth trainer in Thoroughbred racing history to reach the 5,000-win plateau on Friday when Microsecond won the seventh race at Aqueduct.
Pletcher, 53, joins a select group of horsemen that includes Dale Baird, the all-time leader in wins with 9,445, Steve Asmussen, Jerry Hollendorfer, Jack Van Berg, King Leatherbury, Scott Lake, and Bill Mott. Mott reached the milestone earlier this year.
Two first-time starters trained by Bob Baffert are among seven 2-year-olds in a maiden special weight at six furlongs on Sunday at Del Mar. Also in the field are Affable, an expensive purchase at a sale earlier this year, and No Pedigree, whose only race came in a stakes.
Baffert runs the first-time starters Savile Row and Barraza. Typical of Baffert-trained runners, Savile Row and Barraza have had quick workouts.
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Get Her Number, who missed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Friday at Keeneland because of a minor injury, has resumed tack-walking at San Luis Rey Downs training center, trainer Peter Miller said.
Get Her Number earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Juvenile with a win in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes on Sept. 26 at Santa Anita, but was not sent to Kentucky after being diagnosed with bone bruising, Miller said last month.
Owned by Gary Barber, Get Her Number is expected to return to racing in 2021.
“We’ll tack-walk for two or three weeks,” Miller said.
Independence Hall has the people around him thinking about Christmastime. More specifically, the day after Christmas at Santa Anita and the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds.
A two-time stakes winner, Independence Hall will have his California debut in an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Sunday at Del Mar, a race designed as a prep for the seven-furlong Malibu.
“It’s nice to be able to squeeze a race in before the Malibu,” new trainer Michael McCarthy said Friday. “I think he’ll run well and that it will set him up for Dec. 26.”
Daily average handle at the recently concluded Emerald Downs meet was a record $1,794,475, a 61 percent increase over last year. With limited attendance due to the pandemic, most of the wagering came from internet and mobile site customers located in the United States and Canada.
The 38-day meet, which ran from June 24 through Oct. 29, was originally scheduled to be 63 days and start on April 18 but was delayed due to stay at home orders issued by Washington officials on March 16.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Josie Carroll’s star 3-year-olds Mighty Heart, Belichick, and Curlin’s Voyage all garnered lots of attention this year. What’s been overlooked coming out of her barn has been the remarkable development of the well-bred 4-year-old Court Return, who went from being a maiden to a near Grade 1 winner during the course of the Woodbine meet.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Corey Lanerie, a 19-time leading jockey at Churchill Downs, will ride at Turfway Park in December prior to taking his tack to Oaklawn Park in a marked departure from recent winters.
Lanerie, who turns 46 on Nov. 13, has wintered at Fair Grounds in his home state of Louisiana for most of his 30-year riding career, except for five straight championship meets (2012-13 through 2016-17) at Gulfstream Park.
Charles Town racetrack in West Virginia is going on hiatus for two weeks after a jockey and an employee in the jocks’ room at the track tested positive for coronavirus, track officials said Thursday.
All live race cards are being canceled through Nov. 14, the track said. Charles Town’s next scheduled live card after that date is Nov. 19.
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