HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mark Casse said he would like to try the flashy maiden winner Soup and Sandwich in a two-turn race for his next start, but not necessarily on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Bred and owned by the Live Oak Plantation of Charlotte Weber, Soup and Sandwich earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure in winning his career debut at six furlongs last Thursday at Gulfstream. The gray 3-year-old colt is by the red-hot sire Into Mischief.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Every weekend seems to bring a milestone or some sort of stakes success to Todd Pletcher. Last weekend brought both.
Pletcher became the first trainer in North American racing history to surpass the $400 million earnings mark on Saturday, the same day he won the Grade 3 Forward Gal at Gulfstream for the fourth time. Zaajel, a Shadwell Stable homebred, earned a 68 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the seven-furlong race as a 3-5 favorite.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Filly-mare turf runners will take the weekend spotlight at Gulfstream Park when the Suwannee River and Ladies Turf Sprint are renewed Saturday.
The Grade 3, $100,000 Suwannee River and the $100,000 Ladies Turf Sprint will anchor a program marking a respite of sorts from the last two Saturdays here, when the Pegasus World Cup and Holy Bull highlighted huge cards on Jan. 23 and 30, respectively.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will have four stakes on Saturday’s program, which is scheduled to start at noon and include 10 races.
The track postponed the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes from last Saturday to this Saturday because of extensive rain on Jan. 28-29. The forthcoming Saturday program already includes the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs, the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes for turf milers, and the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Wildman Jack, a multiple stakes winner in sprints on turf and dirt, is likely to have his next start in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint at six furlongs on dirt at Meydan Racecourse on March 28 in Dubai.
Wildman Jack won the Grade 3 Palos Verdes Stakes at six furlongs on Jan. 23 at Santa Anita, drawing away by 4 1/4 lengths. Trainer Doug O’Neill said the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at about six furlongs on turf on March 28 at Meydan is another possibility.
“We’ll probably lean dirt,” O’Neill said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 4-year-old colt Express Train has shown rapid improvement at a key time this winter.
After finishing second to Charlatan in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds on Dec. 26, Express Train won his 2021 debut, and the first stakes of his career, in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita.
An apparent outbreak of COVID-19 has led to temporary changes in the stewards’ stand at Tampa.
As of last week, the stewards in place were Samantha Randazzo, Jack Houghton, and Pat Bovenzi. Longtime association stewards Dennis Lima and Eddie Cantlon are on temporary leave, although Tampa officials, citing privacy laws, were unable to confirm whether or not that’s because of COVID-19, as several sources have divulged. There is no timetable for their return.
A wide-open field is expected when entries are taken Wednesday for the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes, with Boca Boy, Smiley Sobotka, and Known Agenda among the 3-year-olds set to clash Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.
The Sam Davis is one of two designated preps for the May 1 Kentucky Derby this weekend, along with the Withers on Saturday at Aqueduct. Points for both races will be awarded on a 10-4-2-1 scale.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Edgard Zayas, in the midst of far and away the best Gulfstream Park Championship meet of his career, added four more wins to his total Sunday, including a pure hat trick with Aycapote, El Pillo, and Summer Kid in races 7 through 9. Zayas, who started the big day guiding Reinagol to victory in the fifth race, now has 50 tallies for the session putting him fourth in the standings behind Irad Ortiz Jr., who posted a three-bagger Sunday.
Big names post drills
