Sunland Park received approval to postpone the beginning of its meet by 30 days during a special meeting of the New Mexico Racing Commission on Friday. The track was to have opened its mixed meet on Dec. 26.
The issue will be revisited at a January meeting. The vote was unanimous.
Goin’ Good was much too good for Indiana Grand fillies debuting in a turf sprint Sept. 21, and on Sunday she’ll take on allowance males in the featured fourth race at Fair Grounds.
This race, for 2-year-olds, is open to first-level allowance horses or $50,000 claimers and carded at about 5 1/2 furlongs on grass. The temporary turf rail is scheduled to be set at eight feet, as has been the case all racing week.
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Mystic Guide is back on the work tab as his connections plot a path to the Pegasus World Cup Invitational. The progressive 3-year-old colt, trained by Mike Stidham for Godophin, worked a half mile in 48.80 seconds on Tuesday at Fair Grounds, his first breeze following a short fall freshening.
Mystic Guide’s most recent start came Oct. 10, when he finished second to fellow 3-year-old Happy Saver in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, after which Stidham lightened up on the colt’s training before a push toward his 4-year-old campaign.
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will miss two mounts in graded stakes at Los Alamitos this weekend after testing positive for the coronavirus on Friday.
Smith said he was asymptomatic and was resting.
“I don’t have any symptoms,” he said. “I’ll have to wait a few days and test again. Hopefully, I’ll be back up for the following week. I’ll watch a little Netflix.”
Smith was notified of the positive after undergoing a test at Santa Anita on Friday, he said.
Mucho Gusto, unraced since a fourth-place finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February, is likely to start in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
“Right now that’s the race we’re looking at,” trainer Bob Baffert said.
Friday at Santa Anita, Mucho Gusto worked six furlongs in 1:12.60.
“Mucho Gusto worked well,” Baffert said. “He’s getting close. I wanted to see how he worked and how he came out of it.”
Warren’s Showtime was held out of Sunday’s Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos in favor of a stakes appearance at Santa Anita.
“We gave it a lot of thought, but there are a lot of opportunities for her at Santa Anita,” trainer Craig Lewis said.
Red Flag, the easy winner of the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar in his stakes debut on Nov. 15, is likely to be supplemented to the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, to be run on Dec. 19.
Trainer John Shirreffs said on Friday that the timing of the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles and the need to separate a few of his 3-year-old prospects for 2021 are the leading reasons for the decision. Red Flag has won 2 of 3 starts and is owned by Jerry and Tina Moss.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer J.K. Sweezey was among the stars on opening day of the meet Wednesday, winning with both his starters. He’ll look to add to his success in Sunday’s featured eighth race, a $47,000 allowance event carded at a mile on the turf, with Amadora among many logical contenders in a full field of 12 fillies and mares.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Opening day of the 2020-21 Gulfstream Park Championship meet on Wednesday featured a strong performance from the up-and-coming 3-year-old Ournationonparade winning the afternoon’s main event and a hat trick by jockey Paco Lopez. But what really had the racing world buzzing on Wednesday was that every race on the card went off at or very near the scheduled post time, a policy Gulfstream Park officials have decided to embrace throughout the entire 90-day session, which continues until March 28.
Miss Stormy D, unraced since winning an allowance race at Santa Anita in February, is among six projected starters in Sunday’s Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Los Alamitos.
Owned by Keith Brackpool and trained by Carla Gaines, Miss Stormy D was supplemented to the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes for $2,000, according to racing secretary Bob Moreno.
