Rafael Bejarano will become the latest jockey to forsake the Southern California circuit for Kentucky when he begins riding regularly at the upcoming spring meet at Keeneland.
Through his new Kentucky-based agent, Julio Espinoza, Bejarano cited fewer opportunities for choice mounts in recent times in California, where smaller fields and reduced purses have become the norm. Conversely, racing is on the rise in Kentucky as numerous jockeys and trainers have left California to compete there.
After 35 years, more than 2,300 wins and a four-year run as the leading trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit, Gary Contessa is seeking a new challenge.
Contessa, 62, announced on Thursday that he plans to quit training horses by the end of the month but he hopes to stay in the racing game.
“I’ve had enough of training,” Contessa said. “If you look at the bottom line, I’m losing money month after month after month. I’m tired of that, I’ve just had enough. It’s very tough.”
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Sole Volante was assigned post 7 as the morning-line favorite in a capacity field of 12 3-year-olds entered in the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, to be run for the 40th time Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
The 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby is one of three Kentucky Derby qualifiers across the country this weekend, along with the Gotham at Aqueduct and the San Felipe at Santa Anita. All three are worth 85 points (50-20-10-5).
Major Fed managed to finish second behind Modernist in the slower second division of the Risen Star while making only his third career start, second around two turns, and first against other winners. Major Fed is a colt with clear ability and classic lines, and Greg Foley, who trains him for owner-breeder Lloyd Madison, thinks Major Fed will find improvement in the Louisiana Derby.
“The horse, right this minute, is doing great and is just ready to go,” Foley said Wednesday.
His connections see no reason to force the pace of Enforceable’s training, and so the most accomplished 3-year-old dirt-route horse stabled at Fair Grounds will have only two works between the Feb. 15 Risen Star and the March 21 Louisiana Derby.
Remington Park in Oklahoma City opens its 50-date meet for Quarter Horses on Friday night. The program comprises 12 races, among them trials and the $68,000 Mighty Deck Three Stakes. The season continues through May 30.
Remington has 39 stakes scheduled for the meet, with those races worth more than a total of $5 million.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Joevia, third in last year’s Belmont Stakes, was entered for Saturday’s $125,000 Stymie Stakes following a last-place finish in the Grade 3 Razorback on Feb. 17 at Oaklawn.
Trainer Gregg Sacco said the horse did not put forth much of an effort in the Razorback, enabling him to wheel back in this one-turn mile race.
“If it’s any indication how he’s trained since coming back from Oaklawn, I think he’s going to give us a good performance,” Sacco said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A double Rebel?
Oaklawn Park split its Grade 2, $1 million Rebel into two $750,000 divisions last year in a move that helped accommodate Southern California-based horsemen when racing at Santa Anita was temporarily suspended the week of the Grade 2 San Felipe.
This year, it remains to be seen whether Oaklawn will split the Rebel, which runs on March 14, but the track is open to running two divisions of the points race for the Kentucky Derby, said Jed Doro, vice president of racing for Oaklawn.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mind Control, the multiple Grade 1-winning sprinter, and Happy Farm, the Grade 3 Fall Highweight winner, will line up side-by-side in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap at six furlongs.
Mind Control, coming off a win in the Grade 3 Toboggan, drew post 4 and will carry top weight of 125 pounds under Junior Alvarado. Alvarado replaces John Velazquez, who has a commitment to ride at Tampa Bay Downs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite the relative ease with which Mischevious Alex won the Grade 3 Swale Stakes last month at Gulfstream Park, his connections did not start booking rooms in Louisville for the first Saturday in May.
Trainer John Servis, who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby with Smarty Jones, doesn’t necessarily view Mischevious Alex as a horse who wants 1 1/4 miles.
“Looking at his pedigree and the way he’s made, you certainly question that,” Servis said of Mischevious Alex, a son of Into Mischief out of the Speightstown mare White Pants Night.
