Bob and Jackie, a three-time stakes winner who was purchased in November by Calvin Nguyen for $190,000 at the Keeneland mixed sale, may start in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes on Jan. 1 at Santa Anita.
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Jockey Joel Rosario, second in the nation’s standings in purse earnings through Wednesday, will be based at Santa Anita from the start of the track’s winter-spring meet on Dec. 26 through the first quarter of 2021, continuing a schedule he has kept in recent years.
Earlier this year, Rosario, 35, was third in the jockey standings at Santa Anita behind Flavien Prat and Abel Cedillo before racing was interrupted in spring because of the pandemic. In the winter of 2018-19, Rosario was the leading rider through the first three months of the meet at Santa Anita.
Laurel Park in Maryland will offer $2.65 million in purses for 24 stakes during its winter schedule this year, including two stakes that will offer the winners automatic berths in the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes and Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at its sister track, Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
The stakes schedule is headlined by the Grade 3 General George and the Grade 3 Runhappy Fritchie Stakes, both offering $250,000 in purses and scheduled for Feb. 13. The same card will include three $100,000 stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Brooklyn Strong, a convincing winner of the Sleepy Hollow Stakes for New York-breds at Belmont on Oct. 24, will step into open company when he meets just four rivals in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Remsen Stakes for 2-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles.
Brooklyn Strong has yet to run beyond a mile, but trainer Daniel Velazquez believes his horse will excel at the added distance.
“I think the mile and an eighth suits him – the longer the better,” Velazquez said. “He just seems like a horse that really has a good turn of foot the longer the distance of the race.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – True Timber has lost 13 consecutive races and is 0 for 19 in stakes races. So, what is he doing in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct?
Well, based on past performances, he’s about to spice up the exotic wagers.
Littlestitious made a splash Tuesday at Delta Downs, drawing out to a 10 1/4-length win in the $100,000 My Trusty Cat. She defeated a competitive group of 2-year-old fillies for the Serengeti Empress team of owner Joel Politi and trainer Tom Amoss, and earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I thought yesterday’s race by Littlestitious was very exciting,” Amoss said Wednesday. “That was her first time to stretch out to a two-turn distance, and she really seemed to improve doing it. As anybody would be this time of year with a 2-year-old, we’re excited about her future.”
Trainer Karl Broberg has won 12 races from 29 starts during the first six dates of the Delta Downs meet, and two of his most impressive winners during that span, Hunka Burning Love and Flash of Mischief, are candidates for upcoming stakes in the region. Hunka Burning Love was a four-length winner of the $100,000 Delta Mile on Saturday, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 90. It was the third stakes win on the year for the horse also co-owned by Broberg.
Santa Anita announced earlier this week that longtime track executive Nate Newby has been named general manager and that Chris Merz has been promoted to racing secretary. The announcements come less than a month before the start of the track’s winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.
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Licensed owners with horses entered to race will be able to attend the Los Angeles County Fair meeting, which begins at Los Alamitos on Friday.
The policy is a change from the track’s summer meeting when owners could not attend, but mirrors a policy that has been in place at Del Mar and Santa Anita since late July.
The Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Saturday will have a small field dominated by runners from the stables of Hall of Fame trainers Bob Baffert and Richard Mandella.
The projected field includes the Mandella-trained Astute and three runners trained by Baffert – Kalypso, Princess Noor and Varda – according to racing secretary Bob Moreno.
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