HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hay Dakota not only won Sunday’s allowance feature, he set a course record, rallying through a narrow opening nearing midstretch to register a three-quarter-length victory over Sombeyay. He ran the 7 1/2 furlongs on the grass in 1:26.91.
Hay Dakota is trained by Jason Servis and was the third win on the card for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who won the $3 million Pegasus World Cup the previous afternoon aboard Mucho Gusto.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Faced with the ever growing reality that Math Wizard is not likely to receive an invitation to the $20 million Saudi Cup, a somewhat disgruntled trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. is looking at alternative plans for his Grade 1 winner that could now include a trip to Oaklawn for the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap on Feb. 17.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Everybody would prefer to win, but Dale Romans was very happy with the way Mr Freeze ran when second in the Pegasus World Cup last Saturday.
Mr Freeze was on the muscle from the start, leading most of the way under Luis Saez before being overtaken only by Mucho Gusto, the 4 1/2-length winner. The 5-year-old horse is owned by Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Encoder and Royal Act, first and fifth in the Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf on Dec. 29, are scheduled to have their first start on dirt in Saturday’s Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.
Encoder won the Del Mar Juvenile Turf in September and was sixth in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint here in November. He has worked well enough on dirt for owners Pete and Kosta Hronis and trainer John Sadler to entertain a surface switch.
Encoder worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 on dirt on Saturday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The two probable favorites for the Holy Bull Stakes were sent through their final pre-race drills last weekend for what shapes up as an interesting stepping-stone on the Kentucky Derby trail Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Tiz the Law, with regular rider Manny Franco in from New York, went a half-mile in a bullet 48 seconds at the Palm Meadows Training Center on Sunday, one morning after Caracaro went five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Gulfstream Park West.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Itsinthepost, a millionaire who won eight graded stakes in the last three years, has been retired after sustaining an injury over the weekend.
Owner Jed Cohen, who races as Red Baron’s Barn, said Itsinthepost was diagnosed with a sesamoid injury by trainer Jeff Mullins on Sunday, a day after working five furlongs in 1:02 on the infield training track.
“He obviously had a problem,” Cohen said. “It’s a shame.”
Cohen said Itsinthepost will not need surgery. Mullins said in a text message Sunday that he was “devastated” by the developments.
Trainer Mike Trombetta said Monday afternoon that Independence Hall will make his next start in the Feb. 8 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, where the colt has been training for several weeks.
Independence Hall, who has emerged as one of the top early contenders for the 146th Kentucky Derby after winning his first three starts by a combined 21 lengths, also had been under consideration for the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans a week later.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Storm the Court, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita in November, worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 at Santa Anita on Sunday, his first workout since he was named the champion 2-year-old male of 2019 in a ceremony in Florida last Thursday.
Trained by Peter Eurton, Storm the Court is being prepared for a start in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes, a $200,000 race for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on Feb. 9. Sunday, Eurton timed Storm the Court galloping out six furlongs in “1:13 and change.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Nationwide, trainer Peter Miller won stakes with sprinters on Saturday – the $150,000 World of Trouble Turf Sprint with Texas Wedge at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes with Captain Scotty at Santa Anita.
They could form part of Miller’s team for seven-figure Group 1 races at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 28.
Miller said on Sunday that Captain Scotty is a candidate for the $2.5 million Golden Shaheen at six furlongs on dirt, while Texas Wedge could run in the $2 million Al Quoz Sprint at six furlongs on a straightaway turf course.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mike Maker certainly wasn’t resting on his laurels after sending Zulu Alpha out to upset the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational here Saturday. Less than 24 hours later, Maker was already at Sam Houston where he had six entrants in three stakes races on the Houston Racing Festival program.
