Sheldon Russell had been out of sight and out of mind since mid-July, so he was bowled over when he learned that Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will give him a leg up on longshot Excession when the 145th Preakness is run at Pimlico in Baltimore.
“Very surprised,” said Russell. “Pleasantly so.”
Del Mar is lowering the minimum amount for pick-six wagers from $2 to 50 cents at its autumn meeting from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29. The track received regulatory approval for the meeting from the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.
The pick six at Del Mar will continue to have a single-ticket jackpot format, with 80 percent of the net pool paid to tickets with six winners, or into a carryover, and 20 percent of the net pool paid if there is one winning ticket, or into a carryover until there is one winning ticket.
The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday approved the reallocation of two weeks of racing in October from the Big Fresno Fair to Golden Gate Fields following the cancellation of fair activities in Fresno because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A third horse exiting the Kentucky Derby, Max Player, has joined the prospective field for the 145th Preakness.
Trainer Steve Asmussen has confirmed that Max Player, fifth in the Sept. 5 Derby, will be on a Tuesday equine charter flight to Baltimore for the $1 million Preakness, which will be run Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course. Max Player will join the Derby winner, Authentic, and the third-place finisher, Mr. Big News, in traveling from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The top juvenile colt in California is done for the year and will be turned out to freshen for a 3-year-old campaign in 2021.
Dr. Schivel, winner of the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity, will ship Thursday from Santa Anita to Rancho Temescal in Ventura County where he will stay until late December or early January.
Jockeys in California will ride under new rules that will greatly restrict the use of whips, beginning on Oct. 1.
Earlier this year, the California Horse Racing Board adopted rules allowing riders to use a whip only in an under-handed motion. Jockeys can use the whip no more than six times in a race and no more than twice in succession before giving the horse a chance to respond.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gamine, the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Oaks earlier this month, will return to one-turn racing for the remainder of the year, with the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7 her next target, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday morning at Santa Anita.
Gamine is back at Santa Anita, where she is galloping daily as part of an easy training schedule exiting the Oaks.
ARCADIA, Calif. – United will seek to make amends for his lone loss this year when he starts as a heavy favorite on Saturday in the Grade 2, $200,000 John Henry Turf Championship, a 1 1/4-mile grass race for which he tuned up on Wednesday morning at Santa Anita with a three-furlong drill in 37.20 seconds under his regular rider, Flavien Prat.
The work came just five days after United worked six furlongs here in 1:14.80,
“Just wanted to sharpen him up,” said his trainer, Richard Mandella. “Just needed to add a little more to his work the other day.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Oleksandra, the Australian-bred mare who beat males in the Grade 1 Jaipur at Belmont in June, is back in training at Belmont Park and could return to the work tab by the end of September, trainer Neil Drysdale said.
Oleksandra came out of the Jaipur with a broken splint bone in a foreleg and was given plenty of time off for the bone to heal. Drysdale believes the injury occurred when Oleksandra got bumped out of the gate.
“We hope to get to the Breeders’ Cup,” Drysdale said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sweet Bye and Bye has won 7 of 16 starts, but she is still in search of her first non-restricted stakes victory. She tries to achieve that in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Noble Damsel Stakes at Belmont.
Sweet Bye and Bye is coming off a neck victory in a stakes-caliber allowance at Saratoga, her second start this year for trainer Tony Dutrow. She has made one other start this year, in January for Steve Klesaris. Sweet Bye and Bye actually made her first career start for Dutrow in 2017, finishing third at Saratoga.
