HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Luca Panici will be sidelined for at least the next several weeks after his mount, Mrs. Miniver, collapsed from an apparent heart attack and crashed into the inner rail shortly after the start of Friday’s fourth race. Panici suffered two broken ribs as a result of the incident, according to his agent, Kevin Meyocks.
“He had no warning,” Meyocks said. “The horse had a heart attack. He’s really lucky he wasn’t hurt a lot worse, all things considered.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Stanley Hough knew from Day 1 that Global Campaign was a special talent. But keeping his latest star sound enough to realize that potential has been a project Hough has labored over for the better part of the last year.
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park will put an exclamation point on an unprecedented meet Saturday when it closes its season with two $500,000 divisions of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
There were 22 horses entered in the 1 1/8-mile race Sunday, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of the spring meet at Keeneland, the suspension of racing at Santa Anita, and the postponement of the Kentucky Derby to Sept. 5.
Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018 who has not raced since July, continues to progress toward his 4-year-old debut. Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that he hopes Game Winner will be ready to race by late spring.
Saturday, Game Winner worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 at Santa Anita. A winner of 5 of 8 starts and $2,027,500, Game Winner has had a steady pattern of workouts since late March.
Arkansas Derby hopefuls Charlatan, Fast Enough, and Nadal recorded quick workouts Sunday at Santa Anita before their scheduled departures early Tuesday for Oaklawn Park.
Charlatan worked six furlongs in 1:12.40, the fastest of six recorded works at the distance. Fast Enough went a half-mile in 47 seconds, the quickest of 61 works. Nadal worked five furlongs in 59.20, which equaled the fastest of 59 recorded times at the distance.
They are intended runners in Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
The record for a single-night handle at Los Alamitos lasted all of one day.
After wagering reached a record $2,466,567 on a nine-race program Friday, bettors contributed $2,843,573 on Saturday’s nine-race program.
Until the weekend, the record for an evening program was $2,379,112 wagered on a 13-race program of Quarter Horse stakes in November 2013.
A Los Angeles County supervisor declined on Friday to say when Santa Anita would be allowed to reopen - without spectators - amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
In a question-and-answer session on local television, Kathryn Barger acknowledged that county officials are reviewing a set of protocols Santa Anita officials recently proposed to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health that would be put in place if the track is allowed to reopen.
Boosted by full fields and competitive sprint races, Los Alamitos recorded an all-time record handle of $2,466,567 on Friday’s nine-race program.
Track officials said in a statement that Friday’s program was the first time an evening card had surpassed $2.4 million.
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The Illinois Racing Board on Friday unanimously approved a request from Arlington International to suspend the start of its 2020 racing season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The board’s approval was a fait accompli since Arlington, scheduled to start its meet May 1, still hasn’t been able to open its backstretch for the season and since Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday had extended the state’s stay-at-home order through May 31.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - At first glance, Saturday’s $75,000 Unbridled Stakes seemed like the next logical local opportunity for Untitled coming off his second-place finish seven weeks earlier in the Grade 3 Gotham. Instead, trainer Mark Casse opted for a lesser endowed but far easier spot, last Thursday’s main event, an entry-level optional-claiming race restricted to Florida-breds which Untitled won as easy as he pleased by 3 3/4 lengths as the overwhelming 1-9 favorite.
