HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - A call to agent Jose Santos Jr. is one-stop shopping for a lot of trainers these days. He represents five riders at four different tracks, and all are notable journeymen.
Santos – the 26-year-old son of retired Hall of Fame rider Jose Santos – has a much larger roster of jockeys than most agents in a business plan that came together in the summer and fall of 2020.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Joe Talamo will have his first mounts of the Oaklawn Park meet on Thursday after being forced to miss the first two weeks of the season due to a positive test for COVID-19.
Talamo said Friday he experienced just one symptom, the loss of taste and smell. He said those senses have since returned. Talamo has been in quarantine and looks for health officials to allow him to start working horses Monday or Tuesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – This Sunday, trainer Brittany Russell ships her talented 3-year-old colt Hello Hot Rod to New York for the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes. Next week, she may send up her talented 3-year-old filly Little Huntress to Aqueduct for the $100,000 Ruthless Stakes on Feb. 7.
Little Huntress, a daughter of Frosted, was a 14-length maiden winner on Dec. 27. The race was her second start, and it followed a narrow debut loss a month earlier.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown and the bulk of his stable may be enjoying the warm weather and the turf options Florida has to offer this time of year, but the string of horses he left behind in New York is handling the cold just fine while racking up the wins and purse money.
When the 3-year-old Crowded Trade overcame a slow start to win his debut Thursday at Aqueduct, it was the ninth winner from 20 starters at the meet for Brown. With Aqueduct’s strong purse structure, Brown’s stable has earned $445,192 since Aqueduct’s winter meet began Dec. 10.
Several mini-satellites in Southern California bars and restaurants have reopened this week, following a decision by the state government on Monday to relax some stay-at-home measures put in place because of the pandemic. Restaurants have been allowed to reopen for outdoor dining.
Mini-satellites in Lake Elsinore, Lake Forest, Lake Perris, Norco, San Bernardino, San Clemente, and Thousand Oaks have reopened, along with Los Alamitos Racecourse. Los Alamitos is open during the day for simulcasting but is not allowing customers to its live race programs in the evenings.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – True Timber is back in central Kentucky after being declared from consideration for the Pegasus World Cup because of an unspecified training injury at Palm Meadows several days before the race.
Trainer Jack Sisterson said he expects an announcement to be made this coming week in regard to the long-term future of the 7-year-old horse, whose most recent start resulted in a 5 1/2-length victory and a career-high 106 Beyer Speed Figure in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 5 at Aqueduct.
Woodbine Entertainment has unveiled its stakes schedule for the 2021 Woodbine meet, which is scheduled for April 17-Dec. 12.
The meet will offer more than $16.5 million in purses for 87 stakes and will feature two prestigious $1 million events, the Queen's Plate (Sunday, Aug. 22), and the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile (Saturday, Sept. 18), a Breeders' Cup Win and You're In qualifier.
:: Want to get your Past Performances for free? Click to learn more.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With social distancing and mandatory face masks required throughout the plant, Gulfstream granted ontrack admission to a little more than 2,000 ticketed customers during the Pegasus card on Jan. 31, marking the first time since the global pandemic began last March that fans were permitted to attend races here.
Billy Badgett, executive director of Florida racing operations for The Stronach Group, said a similar arrangement is in the works for the track’s next big marquee day, the Feb. 27 Fountain of Youth, pending favorable circumstances.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Danny Gargan was thinking it was Tax time last weekend, but nope, not yet. His stable star came up empty in the Pegasus World Cup, and now it’s time to figure out what’s next.
“I’m pretty much at a loss to explain how he ran like he did,” Gargan said Friday, six days after Tax finished 10th of 12 in the $3 million Pegasus at Gulfstream Park. “Maybe he bounced off his lifetime top, I don’t know. You’re always disappointed when they run like that.”
Ms Peintour, winner of the Grade 3 Astra Stakes at Santa Anita in 2020, has been retired and will be bred to Not This Time, owner Samantha Siegel said Thursday.
By Paynter, Ms Peintour, 6, finished her career with a sixth-place finish trying to defend her title in the Astra on Jan. 17. Trained by Brian Koriner, Ms Peintour won 3 of 15 starts and earned $167,534. She was third in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita in 2018.
Not This Time, by Giant’s Causeway, is the sire of Princess Noor, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante in 2020.
