Fri, 03/07/2014 - 16:53

Gulfstream Park: Honor Code to make return in Wednesday allowance

Tom Keyser
Honor Code hasn't raced since winning the Remsen on Nov. 30.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Honor Code will make his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut in a $75,000 allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on Wednesday at Gulfstream Park. Honor Code, who suffered his only setback in three starts in the Grade 1 Champagne, will face just four rivals, Social Inclusion, Specialnightaction, We’re All Set and Ta Bueno.

Fri, 03/07/2014 - 15:12

Oaklawn Park: Large field expected for Rebel Stakes

Coady Photography
Tapiture wins the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park by 4 1/4 lengths. He is expected to make his next start in the Rebel Stakes on March 15.

Oaklawn Park racing secretary Pat Pope is expecting a large field for next Saturday's Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel Stakes. Probables for the 1 1/16-mile race include Tapiture and Strong Mandate, who finished one-two in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest last month at Oaklawn, and Kobe’s Back, winner of the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita.

“I believe there will be 10 to 12 horses in the Rebel,” racing secretary Pat Pope said.

Fri, 03/07/2014 - 14:27

Santa Anita: Bayern in 'holding pattern' with foot bruise

Shigeki Kikkawa
Bayern missed the San Felipe Stakes on Saturday with a bruised foot.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The 3-year-olds Bayern and Bond Holder, absent from major stakes Saturday because of foot ailments, had quiet days on Friday on opposite sides of the country.

Bayern was withdrawn from Saturday’s $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita because of foot bruise detected Thursday. He stayed in trainer Bob Baffert’s barn at Santa Anita on Friday.

“He won’t go to the track for a few days,” Baffert said. “He’s in a holding pattern.”

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 15:15

Aqueduct: Noble Moon breezes for Wood

Michael Amoruso
Noble Moon, here winning the Jerome, worked a half-mile in 49.44 over a slow track on Thursday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jerome Stakes winner Noble Moon continued his preparation for the Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 5 with a four-furlong workout in 49.44 seconds Thursday morning over the Belmont Park training track. With Irad Ortiz Jr. up, Noble Moon went his first quarter in 24.30 seconds and his second quarter in 25.14 over a stretch that appeared to be on the deep side. Noble Moon galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.12 and six furlongs in 1:18.36.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:59

Santa Anita: Bayern's injury alters San Felipe Stakes

Shigeki Kikkawa
Bayern, who has won both of his starts easily, will miss Saturday's Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes with a suspected foot bruise.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bayern, the morning-line favorite for the Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, will be scratched from the race because of a suspected foot bruise, trainer Bob Baffert said Thursday.

Baffert said Bayern had a routine gallop Thursday morning, but his exercise rider suspected something amiss in a front foot, and, after an examination, Baffert surmised he “may have a deep bruise” on the inside of a quarter.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:37

Tampa Bay Derby: Judge Conquest Titan on company he's kept

[bc_video_id:317911:]Fifty qualifying points and a presumed berth in the May 3 Kentucky Derby figure to come well earned when a highly competitive field of 10 3-year-olds clashes Saturday in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, the annual marquee race at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

Conquest Titan could be a slight favorite in the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, a 1 1/16-mile race that has produced the Kentucky Derby winner in two of the last seven runnings: Street Sense in 2007 and Super Saver in 2010.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:12

Weekend Warrior for March 8: Picks for Tampa Bay Derby, Kilroe Mile, Gulfstream Handicap

Tom Keyser
Za Approval may be ready to fire first time back from a four-month layoff in the Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.

Saturday is Big Cap Day at Santa Anita, where the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, featuring a rematch between Breeders’ Cup Classic one-two finishers Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge, tops an outstanding card.

Saturday is also the biggest day of the year at Tampa Bay Downs, where the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby backed by two other graded stakes. One other noteworthy race is the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, which marks the return of Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice.

Tampa Bay Derby

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 15:23

Gulfstream Park: Zito has high hopes for Spot

Barbara D. Livingston
One next-race possibility for Swale winner Spot is the Bay Shore in New York.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nick Zito has won the Kentucky Derby twice. He’d love nothing more than to win a third Derby someday for one of his newest clients, Joseph Moss, the owner of Spot, an up-and-coming 3-year-old who became a Grade 2 winner Saturday, when he upset the previously undefeated No Nay Never in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes.

Even the ever-optimistic Zito has no delusions about Spot winning the Derby, although he does believe the improving son of Pulpit could contend in a Triple Crown race later this spring.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 15:00

Tampa Bay Derby lures two apiece from Pletcher, Casse

Barbara D. Livingston
Conquest Titan, here finishing second in the Holy Bull Jan. 25, is skipping the Fountain of Youth to await the Florida Derby.

Todd Pletcher and Mark Casse both have entered two horses in the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, the annual meet highlight to be run Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

Pletcher will send out Vinceremos and Surfing U S A, while Casse counters with Conquest Titan and Matador. In all, 10 3-year-olds are entered in the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby, which is worth 85 points toward eligibility into the May 3 Kentucky Derby, including 50 to the winner.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 13:35

Jay Hovdey: California Chrome - Just call him the Los Alamitos flash

Scott Martinez/Los Alamitos
The California-bred California Chrome, working Sunday at Los Alamitos, will face open company in the San Felipe.

One of the prime items on the dinner menu of the Vessels Club at Los Alamitos Race Course is Art Sherman’s Petite Filet, Lobster and Shrimp, with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and veggies, all for $38.

Better get it while it’s hot.

The timing of the entrée’s appearance on the Los Alamitos bill-of-fare is suspicious, roughly coinciding with the emergence of California Chrome as a serious 3-year-old colt who just happens to be trained by Art Sherman at – where else? – Los Alamitos.