A wildfire in the mountains above Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. has significantly curtailed visibility and affected training at the racetrack in recent days.
The fire, which began on Sept. 6, is burning in mountains to the northeast of the racetrack and covered more than 23,800 acres by early Friday, according to fire officials. The smoke was so severe that sunlight was noticeably reduced in Southern California, though not as much as in Northern California.
Golden Gate Fields in Northern California has canceled Friday’s live race card due to nearby wildfires that continue to blanket the area in dense smoke, according to the track’s parent company.
Golden Gate was scheduled to hold an eight-race card on Friday, beginning at 4:15 p.m. Eastern time. Strong wildfires in Northern California and in Oregon have led to disruptions across the area.
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Jockey Tyler Baze is returning to California after an eight-month absence for the start of the autumn meeting at Santa Anita on Sept. 19 and will have a new agent in former trainer Jack Carava.
Carava said Wednesday that he is in the final stages of dispersing his 15-horse stable, with some runners going to trainers Bill Spawr and Mark Glatt and others going to Golden Gate Fields or to local farms.
Del Mar will run 16 stakes during its autumn meeting, which runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29, and will offer two Grade 1 races on turf with purses higher than similar races at the track’s summer meeting, which ended on Monday.
Overall the stakes schedule and purses for the autumn meeting are virtually identical to the calendar from the 2019 season.
A trio of stakes will round out the Sunday Kentucky Downs card as the last three of 11 races. They’re the $500,000 TVG, the $400,000 Untapable, and the $400,000 Music City. They’ll all be part of an online handicapping contest spanning the last two days of the short Runhappy Kentucky Downs meet, which closes on Wednesday. Full contest details are available at kentuckydowns.com.
The snafu that led to a “no contest” declaration of the fifth race on the Monday opening-day card at Kentucky Downs was due to faulty batteries supplying power to the starting gate, according to Kentucky chief steward Barbara Borden.
Kentucky Downs officials on Wednesday issued a release from Borden explaining what occurred. In a separate conversation, she said a test conducted afterward showed the batteries “were new but had somehow run down.” Starter Scott Jordan and his crew were absolved of blame.
The undefeated filly Madone won her stakes debut in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sunday and may earn a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 6 at Keeneland pending a stakes appearance on Oct. 4 at Santa Anita.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said earlier this week that the $100,000 Surfer Girl Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita is planned for Madone.
“Most likely, that is what we’re going to do,” he said.
A successful race in the Surfer Girl would lead to a start in the Breeders’ Cup.
The well-traveled colt Pixelate won his first stakes as a 3-year-old in Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby in his sixth appearance in such a race this year. He may be sent back to California from trainer Mike Stidham’s base in Maryland later this year for another lucrative prize.
Tuesday, Stidham said he will consider Pixelate for the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf, a $250,000 race on Nov. 28 at Del Mar. The next objective, however, is likely to be the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, a $500,000 race at 1 1/4 miles on turf on Oct. 3.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Oaks winner Curlin’s Voyage got post 10 and was pegged as the 5-2 second favorite among 14 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds in the 161st running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on Saturday.
Curlin’s Voyage, last year’s Canadian champion 2-year-old filly, captured the seven-furlong Fury Stakes and the nine-furlong Oaks, after ending up second in her season opener in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes. She earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure in the Oaks after rallying inside from well off a fast pace to prevail by 1 3/4 lengths.
From Remington Park in the spring to Los Alamitos in early summer and Ruidoso Downs on Labor Day weekend, Monty Arrossa has won major stakes to secure his position among the nation’s leading Quarter Horse trainers this year.
What happens over the next three months, largely at Los Alamitos, will determine whether the 47-year-old Arrossa secures his first national training championship and whether his top runners earn division titles.
