Mon, 11/17/2025 - 11:33

Demuro hitting best stride atop the jockey standings

Barbara D. Livingston
Through the first three weeks of the Del Mar meet, Mirco Demuro tops the jockey standings with 10 wins.

The hottest jockey the first three weeks of the Del Mar autumn meet? Mirco Demuro scored his meet-leading 10th victory Sunday and will enter the final two weeks of the meet on top of the standings with a 10-for-22 record. Antonio Fresu ranks second with eight wins from 44 mounts.

Demuro, a 46-year-old Italian jockey who became a top rider in Japan, relocated to California early this year before the Del Mar summer meet. Although it took a while to gain traction, everything is clicking now for Demuro.

Mon, 11/17/2025 - 11:30

Tamara resumes training; will target Las Flores

Debra A. Roma
Tamara was a vet scratch from the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Tamara passed her test, resumed training, and will make her 5-year-old debut in a January sprint stakes at Santa Anita. A Grade 1-winning filly produced by Beholder, Tamara was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by regulatory vets who told trainer Richard Mandella she was “lame in the left front.”

Mandella sent Tamara to Santa Anita last week for a PET scan. As Mandella expected, Tamara passed the exam. “Everything’s within normal limits,” Mandella said. “Everybody’s happy.”

Mon, 11/17/2025 - 11:28

Bob Hope canceled as California deals with lack of juvenile winners

Barbara D. Livingston
The Grade 3 Bob Hope was postponed then canceled all together due to lack of entrants.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The autumn stakes schedule for 2-year-olds in California was disrupted by the cancellation of the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar. Originally scheduled for last Sunday, the seven-furlong race was postponed to Nov. 21, and then scrapped entirely when it drew only three entrants.

The canceled Bob Hope will not be brought back this season.

Mon, 11/17/2025 - 10:44

Pebbles, Forever Together rescheduled for Sunday

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Grade 3, $175,000 Pebbles Stakes and the $150,000 Forever Together Stakes have been rescheduled for Sunday after being postponed when the final seven races on last Sunday’s card were canceled due to high winds.

Entries for those races will be taken and redrawn on Wednesday.

Mon, 11/17/2025 - 10:42

Morley turns out turf horses

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Tom Morley's hot streak began with Attfield winning the Central Park Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tom Morley, who has started the meet with five wins from 14 starters, is expecting things to cool down this winter.

That’s due in part to Morley deciding to forgo sending a division to Fair Grounds as he typically does in winter and turning out most, if not all, of his turf horses for the season. Morley said he could see up to half of his 50-horse stable getting winter breaks, with the idea that those turf-oriented horses will be running over Belmont Park’s new synthetic surface in the winter of 2027.

Mon, 11/17/2025 - 10:36

Cox ponders next moves for stakes-winning quartet

Barbara D. Livingston
Fionn's Jockey Club Oaks win may have earned her a start in the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Fionn won Saturday’s Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks, it gave trainer Brad Cox his sixth win and fourth stakes victory at Aqueduct in the first two weeks of November.

Fionn won the Jockey Club Oaks for 3-year-old fillies by a half-length over Laurelin, her sixth victory from eight starts in 2025. It may have earned her a start in the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. A victory in the American Oaks could put Fionn in the conversation for the Eclipse Award in the female turf division.

Fri, 11/14/2025 - 16:54

Davis hospitalized after hard spill

Barbara D. Livingston
Jockey Dylan Davis, who was involved in a spill Friday at Aqueduct, ranks 12th so far this year in earnings.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Dylan Davis suffered a broken right collarbone, multiple fractured ribs, and a collapsed lung as a result of a spill in Friday's seventh race at Aqueduct according to agent Mike Migliore.

Migliore said it was unclear if or when Davis would undergo surgery or how much time he will miss. Migliore said Davis was coughing up blood and had pain in his chest and his side. He was undergoing more tests at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

Fri, 11/14/2025 - 14:12

Civaci injures back, out at least a month

Michael Burns
Woodbine's leading jockey in 2024, Sahin Civaci has been trying to move his tack permanently to New York.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Sahin Civaci suffered another setback in his bid to start his New York riding career.

Civaci suffered a hairline fracture of the T4 and T5 vertebrae in his back as the result of being unseated by his mount, Despo’s Dream, who stumbled at the break of Thursday’s seventh race at Aqueduct. Initially, it was believed that Civaci suffered broken ribs, according to his agent Mike Sellitto, but an MRI performed Friday morning showed something different.

Fri, 11/14/2025 - 14:04

Rated by Merit works toward Cigar Mile

Barbara D. Livingston
Rated by Merit is also under consideration for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rated by Merit missed a little time due to a fever following his victory in the Discovery Stakes on Oct. 4, but on Friday he worked a half-mile in 48.14 seconds over the Belmont Park training track and remains on schedule for the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile on Dec. 6.

Rated by Merit, working by himself over a track that was not yielding quick times, got his last quarter in 23.81. It was his second work since the Discovery.

Fri, 11/14/2025 - 14:02

Fully Subscribed under consideration for Comely Stakes

Susie Raisher/NYRA
Fully Subscribed, who won the Mother Goose on Nov. 8, missed most of her 3-year-old season due to a tibial fracture.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Fully Subscribed, winner of the Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes on Nov. 8, may not be done racing this year.

Trainer Chad Brown said Friday that he will talk to owner Seth Klarman about possibly running her back in the Grade 3, $200,000 Comely Stakes here Dec. 7. Last year, Brown won the Comely with Pretty Ana after that filly was narrowly defeated in the Mother Goose. Pretty Ana was retired earlier this year after developing ankle issues.