ARCADIA, Calif. - At one mile, the Las Virgenes Stakes on Sunday is too far for Rich Musique, too short for Habibti, and too soon for Spring Meadow. All of this makes the Grade 1 race for 3-year-old fillies one of the most interesting stakes of the Santa Anita winter meet. Five to seven starters are expected. The pacesetter is easily identified.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In choosing the path of least resistance, Ask Me No Secrets and Beefeater Baby may have run into a roadblock Thursday at Santa Anita.
Nominated to Saturday's Grade 2 La Canada Stakes, in which they would have been overshadowed by Affluent, Ask Me No Secrets and Beefeater Baby instead retreat into the allowance ranks Thursday. Trouble is, course specialist Nanogram is waiting to score an upset in the seventh-race feature.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Lord ofthe Thunder, a promising New York-bred 3-year-old, won't make his stakes debut as scheduled in Saturday's $75,000-added Whirlaway at Aqueduct because of a pulled muscle behind.
Dick Lundy, who trains Lord ofthe Thunder for Ernie Paragallo's Paraneck Stable, said it's not a serious injury and won't cost him a significant amount of training time with the colt, who is stabled at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer James Bond will make his fifth consecutive appearance in the Donn Handicap, only this time he will take two shots in hopes of finally achieving his first victory in Gulfstream Park's premier handicap race.
Bond said Tuesday that he expects to run both Mongoose and Ubiquity in the $500,000, Grade 1 Donn, which will have its 44th running on Saturday. A field of 13 was expected to be entered, and post positions were to be drawn on Wednesday. Bond said the only reason he wouldn't run both is if one drew a bad post.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the last week, Patrick Valenzuela has forced bettors to respect all of his mounts.
Since he returned from a suspension for a substance abuse violation on Dec. 26, Valenzuela has ridden only six winners, but last weekend two of them were longshots. Last Friday, Valenzuela provided the shock of the day aboard Villanelle ($67.40). Saturday, he won the Pro or Con Handicap with Ta Ta Be True ($32.60).
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A preliminary allowance race for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park this time of year can often be as intriguing as any graded stakes.
A case in point is Wednesday's $34,000 feature, which could prove a stepping-stone to more lucrative opportunities later in the meet. Even a possible starting berth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 16 may be on the line for one or more of the seven 3-year-olds in the lineup.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - A rare sloppy track at Sunland produced a longshot winner in the $103,700 New Mexico State University Handicap, as 13-1 Runmore Mema prevailed by a neck over I'm Not Bluffin.
Runmore Mema ($28.80) and jockey Jorge Bourdieu bided their time as local heroine and 7-5 favorite Yulla Yulla dueled on the front end with San Felipe's King. Late on the turn Bourdieu sent his mount to rally five wide, and entering the stretch it was apparent that Yulla Yulla, unproven at the mile distance, was out of gas as Runmore Mema seized the lead.
California shippers won Turf Paradise's two richest races Saturday.
Captain Squire, a once-defeated California-bred gelding trained by Donald Mills, won the $100,000 Derby. Auction House, a 6-year-old Bobby Frankel-trainee, took the $142,000 Breeders' Cup Handicap on the turf.
Captain Squire led nearly all the way in the 1 1/16-mile Derby, eventually winning by one length as the 9-10 favorite. His 95 Beyer Speed Figure rates favorably with other leading 3-year-olds at this time of the year.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park's main track continues to be heavy and deep, making for slow times and playing havoc with horsemen's training schedules. With Saturday's $500,000 Donn Handicap fast approaching, trainers had no choice but to work their horses over it Sunday and Monday if they plan on making the race.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - In the afterglow of a stirring red, white, and blue Super Bowl won by those upstarts from New England, patriotic punters can get down on Yankee Doodle Boy in Wednesday's eighth-race allowance feature at the Big A.
A son of 1990 NYRA Mile winner Quiet American, Yankee Doodle Boy breaks from post 3 with Jean-Luc Samyn, and heads a field of five entered in a $48,000 third-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles.