HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Tiz the Law got back on the winning track and did so in impressive fashion, pulling away through the final furlong from a game Ete Indien to register a popular three-length victory launching his 3-year-old campaign in Saturday’s $250,000 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Triple Crown-nominated filly Taraz picked up 10 points for the Kentucky Oaks on Saturday, when she won her two-turn debut by 3 3/4 lengths in the $150,000 Martha Washington at Oaklawn.
She is now 3 for 3, with her victories coming by a combined margin of 22 1/2 lengths.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet,” regular rider Florent Geroux said.
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. – Gouverneur Morris will ship from his Florida base to make his 3-year-old debut in the Feb. 17 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park looking to score points on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Barry Irwin, whose Team Valor International partnership owns Gouverneur Morris with WinStar Farm, said the Constitution colt is flourishing in his training for Todd Pletcher at the Palm Beach Downs training center in Delray Beach, Fla.
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.”
Listed, $150,000 Smarty Jones, one mile, Oaklawn Park, Jan. 24, 2020
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Gold Street, by Street Boss
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Martin Garcia
Owner: Mike McCarty
Beyer Speed Figure: 95
Some racing fans and bettors bemoan the modern practice of limiting Thoroughbreds’ starts, training and training with one race in mind and restricting a horse to a minimal number of races per year.
These folks have no beef with Mark Casse.
Casse believes in running his horses, not sitting on them, and the six starts Enforceable made as a 2-year-old laid the foundation for his 3-year-old debut Saturday at Fair Grounds, where he won the Lecomte Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths to push onto the Triple Crown trail.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Montauk Traffic, a 4 1/2-length maiden winner here Dec. 28, worked five furlongs in 1:01.66 on Wednesday morning and could be a candidate for either the Grade 2, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 1 or the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes on Feb. 8.
Montauk Traffic worked in company with Devil’s Code, galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.51 while leaving his company.
Although nobody wins a Derby the first week of January, interest was keen for a pair of 3-year-old stakes last Saturday at Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park, races run under dissimilar conditions.
Aside from both races restricted by age, both at one mile and won by the favorite, comparing the Grade 3 Sham at Santa Anita and $100,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park was apples and oranges.
