OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association has set mandatory payout dates for the Empire 6 wager for the remainder of the winter and spring Aqueduct meets.
Starting Feb. 9, there will be bi-weekly mandatory payouts in the Empire 6. The other mandatory payout dates will be Feb. 23, March 8, March 22, April 5, and April 19, closing day of the spring meet.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Bill Mott will send out Harvey’s Lil Goil for her 3-year-old debut in Sunday’s $100,000 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, his top horse in that division, Lake Avenue, is still at least a month away from her return to action.
Lake Avenue won the Grade 2 Demoiselle by four lengths here Dec. 7 and had her first workout since that race on Monday, going three furlongs in 37.40 seconds at Payson Park.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Two weeks after their successful return to the races, Mind Control and Joevia each could be making his second start of the year earlier than anticipated.
Mind Control, who returned from a 147-day layoff to win the Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes on Jan. 18, could make his next start in the $125,000 Stymie Stakes on March 7 at Aqueduct. Joevia, who returned from a 223-day layoff to win a second-level allowance here Jan. 17, is now being considered for the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Stakes on Feb. 17 at Oaklawn Park, according to trainer Gregg Sacco.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Rafael Bejarano is glad to see January end and February begin.
Bejarano was winless from 39 mounts from the opening day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 28 through Thursday.
“February will be my month,” an optimistic Bejarano said Friday morning. “I hope so.”
Sunday, Bejarano has one mount on a seven-race program, and it could be a good one. Mastering, a $500,000 purchase as a yearling, will have his debut in a maiden special weight race for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has canceled racing next Thursday, and as a result there will be no racing here on Thursdays for three consecutive weeks. In late January, Santa Anita canceled the card for Thursday, Feb. 13, and the track is not scheduled to race Thursday, Feb. 20.
Track officials are hoping that racing fewer days will reverse a trend of declining field size this meet.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Anneau d’Or, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, will begin his 3-year-old campaign in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds as a prep for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, trainer Blaine Wright said Friday.
Anneau d’Or, who is in training at Golden Gate Fields, was second in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 7 in his most recent start, finishing a neck behind Thousand Words.
Wright said he will add blinkers to Anneau d’Or for the Risen Star.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Kazushi Kimura, the 2019 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey, worked a horse for trainer Bill Tharrenos Friday morning at Gulfstream Park and plans to ride locally until returning to his home base at Woodbine prior to the opening of the 2020 season on April 18.
Kimura said because of visa restrictions, he is only permitted to accept mounts from Canadian-based horsemen while in South Florida.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Mike Maker is a new face this meet at Oaklawn, having set up a 20-horse division.
Maker joked that his stable at Oaklawn, which does not have a grass course, is “very turf heavy.”
Bringing horses to Oaklawn was appealing for a couple of reasons, said Maker.
“I’ve got some great clients that live in Arkansas that like to race there,” he said. “The purses don’t hurt, either.”
Dot Matrix is back home at Fair Grounds following his win last Sunday in the Grade 3, $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston.
Options for his next start include the Grade 2, $300,000 Muniz Memorial Classic on March 21 at Fair Grounds and the Grade 2, $250,000 Elkhorn on April 18 at Keeneland, said trainer Brad Cox.
“We may just wait for the Elkhorn or we may shorten him back up,” Cox said. “He’s good anywhere from a mile and a sixteenth and beyond.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – In a new program instituted by Oaklawn Park, a portion of claiming revenues this meet will be set aside for aftercare programs.
“We’re pushing to make sure everyone knows our athletes, when they’re done on the racetrack, that they have another life,” said Pat Pope, racing secretary at Oaklawn.
