Santa Anita
It's never easy to predict with any confidence just how Brazilian form is going to stack up in the United States, let alone in graded stakes company. But Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has perfected the art with country code 'Brz', having conditioned the likes of American Grade I winners Redattore, Sandpit, Siphon and Fox Hill Farm's Bal a Bali in addition to other graded winners Romarin, Cagney and Out of Mind. Fox Hill's newest import is Jolie Olimpica (Brz), a daughter of GI Belmont S. and GI Breeders'...
The Fashionable Fillies Luncheon will head west for the first time this year, landing on Mar. 8, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation announced Thursday. The traditional summer luncheon will again be held in Saratoga Springs, with both events benefiting the foundation. Hosted in Santa Anita's Chandelier Room, the March event will include cocktails, lunch, and the opportunity to shop from local vendors. All proceeds will be earmarked by the foundation to benefit the backstretch community in Southern California. "The Fashionable Fillies Luncheon...
Introduced to horses before she could even walk, Andie Biancone worked her way through the ranks before getting her first full-time job on the backstretch three years ago. However, what the 22-year-old may lack in longevity, she more than makes up for with commitment, a strong work ethic and unbridled enthusiasm for the game. Also standing firmly behind the aspiring trainer is her father, international horseman Patrick Biancone, who trained a slew of equine stalwarts, including consecutive G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners All Along and Sagace, in addition...
In a matchup of three talented newly-turned-sophomore fillies from the Bob Baffert barn, it was the experience and the class of multiple Grade I winner Bast (Uncle Mo) that proved superior, as the 124-pound highweight sat off her stablemates and edged clear late to score an odds-on success in the GII Santa Ynez S. Sunday at Santa Anita. A debut second Aug. 11 at Del Mar, the $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga buy added blinkers and dominated the GI Del Mar Debutante S. by 8 3/4 lengths 20 days later. A narrow...
As the only member of the freshly minted 3-year-old crop--male or female--with three Grade I wins securely on her CV, Bast (Uncle Mo) is impossible to overlook in the GII Santa Ynez S., which is worth $200,000 and 10 points toward the GI Kentucky Oaks on the first Friday in May. A $500,000 purchase for Baoma Corp. at the FTSAUG sale, Bast was a close second in her sprinting debut at Del Mar Aug. 11, then blew the doors off the field to break her maiden in the Aug. 31...
A $350,000 Keeneland September yearling, Authentic (Into Mischief) is the latest to make the races from his dam, the Mr. Greeley mare Flawless. The May foal was anything but that in Saturday's GIII Sham S. at Santa Anita, but raw ability saw him run up the score to the tune of 7 3/4 very green-but-good lengths as the 6-5 favorite. His well-backed stablemate Azul Coast (Super Saver) finished best of the rest in the one-mile test, which offered points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on a 10-4-2-1 scale....
Bob Baffert has two strong chances to win his sixth edition of the GIII Sham S. Saturday with Authentic (Into Mischief) and Azul Coast (Super Saver). A $350,000 KEESEP buy, Authentic graduated at first asking sprinting at Del Mar Nov. 9, earning an 87 Beyer Speed Figure in the process. His stablemate Azul Coast also donned cap and gown at first asking, albeit going a mile at Los Alamitos Dec. 8. The Richard Baltas-trained Taishan (Twirling Candy) boasts the second highest Beyer in the field, registering an 81 for his...
Though the winter-spring meet at Santa Anita is already underway, the new race meet agreement (RMA) between the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) and The Stronach Group (TSG) concerning both of the company's California racetracks--Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields--has yet to be inked with both parties still to reach an agreement over certain aspects of the contract following prolonged negotiations. In a two-page Q &A distributed among trainers, the CTT wrote that TSG is seeking to alter portions of the existing race meet agreement in order to expand the latitude...
Santa Anita raised nearly $13,000 for the aftercare foundation CARMA through 1,000 plush horses donated by the Mathis Brothers on opening day of the meet Dec. 28. "We are so delighted to have been a part of this year's Opening Day at Santa Anita and to raise money for such a worthy cause," said Bill Mathis, President, Mathis Brothers Furniture. "There is no greater cause in racing today than Thoroughbred Aftercare and we'd like to thank Santa Anita, CARMA and the many fans who donated on Saturday. We are proud...
New to running racetracks, Aidan Butler, The Stronach Group (TSG)'s chief strategy officer and acting executive director of California Racing Operations, has worn all sorts of suits belonging to all sorts of worlds--horse racing, legal affairs, business management, and technology--that he says have prepared him for the task. He founded a sports equipment company called GuardLab, which specializes in mouthguards, for example. He was managing director of a large litigation law firm called Gilbert's, its area of expertise in intellectual property--though he isn't, it should be noted, an attorney. Butler,...
When Aidan Butler, The Stronach Group (TSG)'s chief strategy officer, arrived at Santa Anita earlier this Spring, he did so in the midst of a welfare crisis unfolding on a national stage. Since then, TSG has solidified Butler's position within the company, where he will additionally serve as acting executive director of California Racing Operations. In terms of the crisis, Del Mar's summer meet--at which there were no race day fatalities and only four training-related deaths, two of which were the result of a freak accident--has had the effect of...
Jerry Hollendorfer and the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) filed a complaint for emergency relief in the Alameda County Superior Court Monday seeking either a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) or a Preliminary Injunction against the Pacific Racing Association (PRA) which would permit the veteran trainer to stable and race his horses at the association's Golden Gate Fields facility. Just last month, a judge at the Superior Court of San Diego granted the trainer a preliminary injunction against Del Mar, giving him permission to stable and race horses under his name at...