Fri, 01/24/2020 - 16:25

Quarter Horse World Champion He Looks Hot retired

He Looks Hot, the 2019 Quarter Horse World Champion, has been retired after finishing last of six in a division of the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship trials on Jan. 19.

Owner and breeder Ed Allred and trainer Scott Willoughby made the announcement on Thursday evening at the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association’s annual awards dinner at Los Alamitos where He Looks Hot was honored as the organization’s Horse of the Year for 2019.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 16:10

N.Y. governor's budget authorizes NYRA to construct drug testing lab

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Five years after the New York Racing Association began discussing the idea of constructing a world-class equine drug testing laboratory, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2021 budget gives the company authorization to do just that.

In a press release put out by the governor’s office Friday, Cuomo’s budget would permit NYRA to use capital funds to finance, construct, and equip a new state-of-the-art drug testing laboratory and research center.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 14:56

Bridlewood Cat taking next step in allowance

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Bridlewood Cat, now 4, has the Correction Stakes as a near-term goal.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bridlewood Cat, winner of two straight since returning from a layoff, takes the next logical step in her progression toward stakes company when she heads a field of six entered in a second-level allowance race Sunday at Aqueduct.

Bridlewood Cat, a 4-year-old half-sister to Grade 1 winner Sweet Loretta trained by Jonathan Thomas for Bridlewood Farm, is trying to use this race as a springboard to the $100,000 Correction Stakes here on March 14. Both this race and the Correction are at six furlongs, the distance at which Bridlewood Cat has already won twice.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 14:50

Shotski, others, get in workouts for Withers

Barbara D. Livingston
Shotski, winner of the Grade 2 Remsen to cap his juvenile season, will ship in from Maryland for the Withers.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Led by Shotski, the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes winner, five horses pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, put in workouts Friday morning at three different venues.

At Laurel, Shotski worked five furlongs in 1:02. Trainer Jeremiah O’Dwyer said he was aboard Shotski and that he had two stablemates in front of him for the move.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 14:36

Yeng Again, a half-brother to Owendale, makes debut on Sunday

Barbara D. Livingston
Joel Rosario has been fined $1,000 for not making it back from Saudi Arabia in time to ride at Santa Anita last Sunday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Yeng Again may turn out to be one of the bargains of the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Purchased for $75,000, Yeng Again will make his career debut in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Sunday. The colt, by Carpe Diem, has worked well in recent weeks, including a five-furlong workout in 59 seconds on Jan. 12, the fastest of 69 works at the distance.

“He’s pretty quick, a nice, big horse,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “He’s finally ready to run.”

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 14:36

United expected for the San Marcos, one of three Feb. 1 stakes

Susie Raisher
United missed scoring a 51-1 upset over Bricks and Mortar by a head in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the autumn, United nearly won a race in which he was not expected to be a factor and lost a race in which he was favored.

United’s surprise second by a head at 51-1 to eventual Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 was followed by a neck loss at even money to Oscar Dominguez in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Del Mar on Dec. 1.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 12:36

Klarman's Eclipse Awards speech steals the show

Horsephotos/NTRA
Seth Klarman, majority owner of Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, addresses the crowd at Thursday evening's Eclipse Awards banquet.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was a record-equaling night at the Eclipse Awards for those connected to Bricks and Mortar, the Horse of the Year and male turf champion, but for the horse’s majority owner Seth Klarman it was a night not only to celebrate the achievements of his horse, but to implore the sport’s leaders to get their act together.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 12:20

Tiz the Law tops among Holy Bull probables

Justin N. Lane
Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law is among at least six expected for the Holy Bull.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Tiz the Law is the biggest name expected next Saturday when the Gulfstream Park trail to the Kentucky Derby gets started in earnest with the Holy Bull Stakes.

Tiz the Law, third as the 3-5 favorite in the Nov. 30 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs in his final start at 2, will be looking to return to the form that took him to a four-length triumph in the Champagne in October. Trained by Barclay Tagg, the Constitution colt has been on a steady breeze schedule since late December at his winter base at the Palm Meadows training center.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 10:47

More X-rays planned for Omaha Beach after arrival in Kentucky

Barbara D. Livingston
Omaha Beach will begin his stud career at Spendthrift Farm.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Omaha Beach is set to travel on Monday to Kentucky, where he is scheduled to begin stud duty next month at Spendthrift Farm. But once arriving there, his condition will be monitored to see if the injury that forced his withdrawal on Thursday from the Pegasus World Cup Dirt on Saturday will impact the start of breeding season.

Fri, 01/24/2020 - 08:50

Local boy Faucheux enjoying view from top

The Fair Grounds races ended Thursday, and at the top of the trainer standings still stood Ron Faucheux. Faucheux’s 18 winners were one more than Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox and two more than Tom Amoss.