Sam Houston Race Park handled more than $5.3 million on its 10-race Houston Racing Festival program Sunday, which was an all-time handle record for the track that opened in 1994.
The program featured six stakes, including the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic won by Letruska.
Sam Houston’s previous record handle of $5,083.692 was set on the Great State Challenge card on Dec. 7, 2002. Last year, handle on the Houston Racing Festival card was $3.2 million.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Getridofwhatailesu could be headed to graded stakes company after nailing down her first career stakes victory in the $150,000 Pippin last month at Oaklawn Park. Trainer Brad Cox said the mare is a candidate for the track’s Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri over 1 1/16 miles on March 13.
“She obviously likes Oaklawn,” Cox said.
The Pippin was Getridofwhatailesu’s third win over the local strip from four starts at Oaklawn. Last year, she won two allowance races in Hot Springs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher hopes the Nov. 8 maiden race at Aqueduct can produce a few more stakes winners this coming weekend.
Pletcher finished first and third in that race with Known Agenda and Overtook, respectively. The runner-up from that race, Greatest Honour, not only came back to win his maiden but also took Saturday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Thankful, winner of the Ladies Handicap on Jan. 17, will likely make her next start in the $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational going a one-turn mile here at Aqueduct on March 6, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
While Pletcher said he would prefer to keep Thankful racing around two turns - the Ladies was run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns - he said the only immediate option to do that would be to take her to Laurel for the Nellie Morse Stakes on Feb. 13. Maryland restrictions require shippers to be on the grounds three days before they race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Abel Cedillo had a fine January with his 3-year-old mounts at Santa Anita, winning a maiden special weight race with The Great One on Jan. 23 and Saturday’s Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes with Medina Spirit.
A more difficult day could be looming in coming weeks.
The Great One, trained by Doug O’Neill, and Medina Spirit, trained by Bob Baffert, are on the same career path – bound for the Triple Crown races. Cedillo could eventually have to choose which colt to ride should the pair appear in the same race.
Max Player got the invitation his connections desired and will make his next start Feb. 20 in the $20 million Saudi Cup, trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday.
Max Player will travel Feb. 8 along with stablemate Cowan, who will start in the Saudi Derby on the Saudi Cup undercard. Both horses, if they do well in Saudi Arabia, could go on to Dubai for races there on the Dubai World Cup card March 27.
Knicks Go is going to Saudi Arabia.
Provided he works to his connections’ satisfaction this Saturday at Fair Grounds, Knicks Go, winner of the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23, will depart the U.S. on Feb. 8 for a go at the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 20 outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“He came out of the Pegasus in great shape,” said Brad Cox, who trains Knicks Go for the Korea Racing Authority. “We just want to see how he works and how he comes out of it. Hopefully we see what we want to see.”
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.
