ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockeys Assael Espinoza, Tony Locke, and Iggy Puglisi have received suspensions for recent riding infractions at Santa Anita.
Espinoza is suspended on Sunday and Feb. 6 for his ride on Fort Lodge in the eighth race on Jan. 20. Espinoza, 20, was cited for excessive use of the whip “when the horse obtained its maximum placing,” according to a ruling issued Sunday.
Fort Lodge finished seventh of eight in a maiden claimer, 12 1/2 lengths behind winner Derby Storm.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Brown Storm and Campaign had forgettable autumn campaigns last year, ending successful years with disappointing performances in graded stakes.
Brown Storm, a two-time stakes winner in Chile, was fifth and sixth at Santa Anita and Del Mar in his first two starts in this country. Campaign, a two-time stakes winner in 2019, was eased as the 3-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Marathon Stakes at 1 3/4 miles at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Higher Power returned to Santa Anita with his bloodwork “upside down,” trainer John Sadler said Wednesday, reasoning that stress from travel was a factor in his last-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
“He came back sound, but pretty stressed from the trip,” Sadler said. “I’d say he didn’t travel very well. Some of his bloodwork when he got back is upside down. So we have to wait that out.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Tax, ninth of 10 in the Pegasus World Cup last Saturday, won’t race again for at least a couple of months, trainer Danny Gargan said.
“We’re not going overseas for one of the big-money races, that’s for sure,” Gargan said. “He won’t run again until something like the Oaklawn Handicap or Ben Ali, one of those type races.”
Tax was the 4-1 third choice in the Pegasus, a 1 1/8-mile race in which the 4-year-old gelding “didn’t get away very well and then got jostled around pretty good,” Gargan said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Maxfield, one of the leading 2-year-olds of 2019, returned recently to the Brendan Walsh barn at the Palm Meadows training center after undergoing rehabilitation at Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla. Maxfield had a small ankle chip removed shortly after being scratched from the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
“He’s back galloping at Palm Meadows and we’ll monitor him this week as to when he can start back working,” Walsh said Wednesday from New Orleans. “But he’s done great physically and is moving great, too.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Kenny McPeek sent out Harvey Wallbanger to a 29-1 upset of the Holy Bull Stakes last year, so there’s fresh precedent for something similar to happen Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
McPeek will be back in the Holy Bull with another longshot, Mayberry Deputy, although he doesn’t expect the Majesticperfection colt to be quite as big a price on the tote.
“Probably not,” McPeek said. “His maiden win last month was impressive in the sense he got bounced around quite a bit, yet he still came through and got the job done.”
Mr Money Bags is likely headed to Oaklawn Park after running a corker Sunday at Sam Houston Race Park. He dominated the $75,000 Stonerside Sprint, winning off by 6 3/4 lengths and earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
“That was over the top,” said Mike Neatherlin, who trains Mr Money Bags for breeder and owner Roy Cobb.
The next day, the Texas Thoroughbred Association announced Mr Money Bags would be honored as the 2019 Texas-bred of the Year during a March 21 banquet at Sam Houston.
Trainer Steve Asmussen won a pair of 3-year-old stakes in the Mid-South last week when Gold Street took the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn on Friday and Rowdy Yates proved best in the $100,000 Riley Allison Derby at Sunland Park on Sunday.
Gold Street was making his two-turn debut. Owned by Mike McCarty, he won his second stakes and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 95.
“The Southwest is highly likely for him,” Asmussen said Tuesday of the Grade 3, $750,000 stakes Feb. 17 at Oaklawn.
Flashy 3-year-old Louisiana-bred No Parole will make his next start Feb. 8 in the $100,000 Premier Night Prince, a one-mile statebred-restricted race at Delta Downs, trainer Tom Amoss said Tuesday.
Amoss had said shortly after No Parole’s race on Jan. 11 that the colt probably would face open stakes competition when he returned to action.
“We’ve reconsidered our thinking on that,” Amoss said.
Sam Houston handled more than $3.2 million on its Houston Racing Festival card of six stakes Sunday, a record for the program, which was established in 2013.
“It certainly went well,” said Frank Hopf, senior director of racing for Sam Houston.
Hopf said approximately $2.9 million was bet by offtrack patrons, while the ontrack crowd of 6,075 wagered more than $383,000 on the card. Both betting categories were records for the Houston Racing Festival.
