By late summer of 2018, Ward ‘n Jerry’s career seemed headed in the wrong direction. Winless in four starts in the preceding 18 months, Ward ‘n Jerry was shipped to Idaho and a respite on the farm of owners Larry and Marianne Williams.
“He’d fallen on hard times,” trainer Mike Puype recalled on Sunday.
Ward ‘n Jerry was 5 at the time and had won four races. He was gelded during the vacation and did not return to racing until last summer.
Brad Cox won another Fair Grounds training title and nearly swept the graded-stakes races on Saturday at Fair Grounds, capturing the Louisiana Derby with Wells Bayou, the Fair Grounds Oaks with Bonny South, and the Muniz Memorial with Factor This.
All three horses came out of their respective races in good physical condition, said Cox, who described Wells Bayou on Sunday as “a little tired.” Wells Bayou, who got a 91 Beyer Speed Figure winning his first stakes race, could run back May 2 in the $750,000 Arkansas Derby, Cox said.
The disrupted racing schedules in Kentucky and New York caused by the coronavirus outbreak has left a few California trainers unsure where to run prominent stakes horses in coming weeks.
Ginobili, second to the highly regarded Nadal in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes on Feb. 9, worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds at Santa Anita on the infield training track on Sunday for an undetermined goal.
Fair Grounds racing officials sent to horsemen early Sunday afternoon a message outlining a training schedule extending through April 11, alleviating concerns that arose from a letter sent Saturday night from Fair Grounds president Doug Shipley to the Louisiana Racing Commission. That letter, according to multiple sources who’d seen it, suggested Fair Grounds would have to halt training in response to a Stay Home Mandate issued by New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell on March 20 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Two of the leading contenders for Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby, Tiz the Law and Independence Hall, turned in their final preps for the meet’s marquee event at virtually the same time albeit 40 miles apart, shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Sam Houston Race Park in Houston announced Sunday it has canceled its final four dates of the Thoroughbred meet as well as its full meet for Quarter Horses that was to open April 10.
The meet for Thoroughbreds was to have originally closed March 28. The cancellations were made due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re extremely disappointed to not be able to complete what we started, which was a tremendous racing season for the Thoroughbreds,” Frank Hopf, senior director of racing operations for Sam Houston, said Sunday.
HALLANDALE BBEACH, Fla. – Under normal circumstances, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. would be elated over Ny Traffic’s second-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. But these aren’t normal times in the world, and Joseph readily admitted he had mixed emotions when talking about the performance shortly after training hours at Gulfstream Park on Sunday morning.
Sam Houston Race Park was forced to cancel its Texas Champions program after Saturday night’s second race due to a track lighting issue caused by a blown transformer, according to Frank Hopf, senior director of racing operations for Sam Houston.
“The transformer blew and we were unable to get all the track lights on to run safely,” said Hopf.
Sam Houston experienced wet weather Saturday, with the track rated sloppy and the races scheduled for turf moved to the main track.
Ricardo Santana Jr. who is the leading rider at Oaklawn Park, will be taken off the horses he is named to ride Sunday at the Hot Springs, Ark., track as he begins a 12-day quarantine period in precautions Oaklawn is taking after Santana spent Saturday riding at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
