ARCADIA, Calif. - Pelirrojo passed his first test as a 3-year-old with a victory in an allowance race Wednesday at Santa Anita. His next assignment, the $200,000 San Rafael Stakes on March 2, will dictate his short-term future.
The win on Wednesday left trainer John Sadler optimistic that Pelirrojo can show further improvement in important 3-year-old stakes in coming weeks.
"I like the way he ran," Sadler said. "He can close."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Only two years after winning the riding title at Santa Anita, Corey Nakatani is far behind in this year's jockey standings.
Once expected to challenge for the riding title at any major meeting in Southern California, Nakatani has ridden just three winners in 62 mounts at the Santa Anita meet, which opened Dec. 26. Nakatani, 31, already trails leader Alex Solis by 22 wins and would gladly settle for any spot in the top 10 when the meet ends on April 21.
The reappearance of long-absent Touch Love has apparently scared off most of the competition in Saturday's $60,000 Jameela Stakes at Laurel Park.
Only 11 3-year-old fillies were nominated for the seven-furlong race, which is restricted to Maryland-breds. Just five opponents will line up to face the undefeated Touch Love.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Few racing regions appreciate the unseasonably warm weather that spread over the country last week more than New England.
With just one cancellation at Suffolk Downs through January and recent record-high temperatures, Suffolk Downs officials and horsemen are cautiously optimistic about the rest of the winter.
"It's been very good," said chief operating officer Bob O'Malley. "Last year the weather turned awful right at Thanksgiving and things were dreary for five months. Now we can count down to April 1."
PHOENIX - Bobby Frankel has managed to cut a stakes swath from Southern California to Texas to Kentucky to Illinois to New York, like Sherman marching through Georgia to the sea. Now Arizona comes under his gaze.
Frankel sends graded stakes performers Decarchy and Auction House to lead the $150,000 Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup Handicap at Turf Paradise on Saturday on what may be the biggest live-racing day of the meet.
Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla., which experienced a 6 percent increase in handle last year following the spring closing of a nearby Native American-run offtrack betting parlor, opens for 84 days of racing Saturday.
The meet will feature Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred racing, and will be conducted on Saturdays and Sundays this season, a departure from the track's traditional Friday to Sunday schedule. The meet continues through Nov. 24.
Citing poor business, New York Racing Association chairman Barry Schwartz said on Thursday that Aqueduct would be closed for simulcasting on Mondays beginning Feb. 4.
Schwartz said NYRA could no longer justify the expense of keeping Aqueduct open when handle on two major Monday signals, Gulfstream and Fair Grounds, had failed to live up to expectations.
"The quality of racing has been so poor at Gulfstream that we're just not doing the same numbers," Schwartz said. "We're way down, and there's no reason to keep the track open."
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Seven Seas threw in such a clunker finishing seventh in the Yellow Ribbon Stakes last September that trainer Bobby Frankel knew there had to be an explanation.
The puzzle was solved when The Seven Seas was diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis that kept her from breathing properly.
Four months later, following surgery to correct the problem, The Seven Seas returns in Friday's $75,000 Reloy Handicap at Santa Anita. "She's been operated on and she's fine," Frankel said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Pelirrojo closed from last to win a * for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on Wednesday, a victory that put him on course for the preps to the Santa Anita Derby.
Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Pelirrojo won a three-horse photo. He finished a neck in front of Raven Power, the 4-5 favorite and pacesetter, who was a head in front of Azillion. Puerto Banus, a half-brother to Spain, the winner of the 2000 Breeders' Cup Distaff, finished fourth in a field of seven.
