ARCADIA, Calif. – Storm the Court, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 at Santa Anita on Sunday in preparation for his 2020 debut next month.
Trainer Peter Eurton plans to start Storm the Court in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs on Feb. 9. Sunday, Eurton timed Storm the Court galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.40 and said the colt “got a little tired.”
Storm the Court has had five workouts in the last month.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The winning streak has reached five races, and the admiration is at an all-time high.
Fashionably Fast was the determined winner of the $150,000 California Cup Sprint for statebreds at Santa Anita on Saturday, a win that left trainer Dean Pederson impressed as well as hopeful the 5-year-old gelding can show more ability later this year in longer races and maybe a graded stakes.
Fashionably Fast, ridden by Tiago Pereira, disputed the pace throughout the California Cup Sprint, much to the delight of owners John Harris, Per Antonsen, and John Nicoletti.
Omaha Beach wasn’t the only big name on Sunday’s work tab at Gulfstream Park. The heavy favorite for next Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup began his drill just as top 3-year-old prospect Tiz the Law was completing his, five furlongs in 1:01.41, with regular rider Manny Franco in from New York for the assignment.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mind Control and Joevia were both successful in their seasonal debuts at Aqueduct giving their trainer, Gregg Sacco, hope for a big year from the pair of 4-year-olds.
Mind Control, in his first start in 147 days, gutted out a nose victory over Nicodemus and Sunny Ridge in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes. Mind Control ran seven furlongs in 1:24.23 over a fast track that had some moisture in it from day-long snow and earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
The much-anticipated return of Hidden Scroll here Friday never materialized after he was scratched by the stewards at the gate before an allowance race.
Hidden Scroll, off the board as the favorite in both the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby here last winter, had not started since finishing third in an allowance race at Churchill Downs on May 4. He was scratched Friday when he became fractious and lost his jockey, Jose Ortiz, after being loaded in the gate.
ARCADIA, Calif. -- Higher Power on Saturday morning at Santa Anita turned in his final drill for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 25 in a manner suggesting he will a major threat for the top prize at Gulfstream Park.
With regular rider Flavien Prat aboard, Higher Power worked five furlongs, beginning about three lengths behind a workmate. He sat in that spot for more than half the drill, cruised past his company in upper stretch, and was five in front -- with the margin widening -- as he came past the finish post.
NEW ORLEANS – Bell’s the One didn’t run to her top form when she finished a well-beaten fifth Dec. 28 in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita, but she has returned to trainer Neil Pessin’s barn no worse for wear and is scheduled to race Feb. 25 at Fair Grounds in the Mardi Gras Stakes. The Mardi Gras is a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint, and Pessin said he’s using it as a bridge to the Grade 1 Madison Stakes over seven furlongs on dirt April 4 at Keeneland.
NEW ORLEANS – Alms, the Godolphin filly who won all three of her starts in 2019, has worked twice this month and could make her 3-year-old debut Feb. 8 at Fair Grounds in the $60,000 Shantel Lanerie Memorial Stakes, a one-mile grass race for 3-year-olld fillies. Trainer Mike Stidham said the Lanerie could serve as a useful prep for the Grade 3, $200,000 Florida Oaks on March 7 at Tampa Bay Downs. Stidham has a string of horses stabled at Tampa Bay in addition to his Fair Grounds stable.
NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Steve Asmussen had three entrants for the Lecomte Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds and planned to enter four more 3-year-olds for the Smarty Jones Stakes next Friday at Oaklawn. That’s a lot of firepower, and Asmussen has still more ammunition in his 3-year-old arsenal.
NEW ORLEANS – Wynn Time, one of the better Illinois-bred racehorses of recent years and a three-time stakes winner last season at Fair Grounds, has been retired.
Wynn Time had chronic knee problems, trainer Hugh Robertson said, and after finishing fifth as the odds-on favorite in an Illinois-bred stakes in November, his first start back from a long layoff, it became clear he was never going to regain his best form.
“He could still run, but I’d have to run him cheap, and I’m not going to do that,” Robertson said.
