Santa Anita

With recent rain at Santa Anita limiting training Friday on the main track to joggers only, GI Del Mar Futurity winner Gaming (Game Winner) took to the synthetic training track to post a six-furlong work ahead of an expected tilt in next weekend's Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. Gaming was clocked going over the Tapeta in 1:12.60 (1/2). Last Friday, Gaming worked six furlongs from the gate in a bullet 1:11.80 on the main track. Trained by Bob Baffert, Gaming exits an eighth-place finish in the GIII Southwest Stakes Jan....

After 40 years on the mic, predominantly at Santa Anita and Del Mar, but also for a time as the voice of the Breeders' Cup and Triple Crown races, track announcer Trevor Denman has announced his retirement. "This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made," Denman said. "But my soul is telling me that now is the time." Denman, 72, began calling races in 1971 in his native South Africa and came to America in time to assume racecalling duties at Santa Anita in 1983. At one...

Formula Rossa (f, 3, Vekoma--Fay Na Na, by Majestic Warrior) put on a show while stopping the timer for six furlongs in 1:08.73 in her 'TDN Rising Star' unveiling at Santa Anita Feb. 21. Off as the 4-1 third choice for trainer Mark Glatt, Formula Rossa chased in second as the highly regarded, Bob Baffert-trained firster Brilliantly (Uncle Mo) zipped through sharp fractions of :21.89 and :44.41. Formula Rossa drew up alongside the 4-5 favorite at the top of the stretch and blasted off for home with powerful-looking strides to...

Kendrick Carmouche has been named the winner of the 2025 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award after a nationwide vote by his fellow riders. The award, which has been presented annually by Santa Anita Park since 1950, honors riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and for the sport of Thoroughbred racing. "Twenty five years of living as a professional jockey and living as a son to a jockey, this award means that the pavement that I have put down in the industry has been shown to...

Searching for redemption following a sub-par effort as the beaten 1-10 choice in her stakes debut last time out, Michael Lund Petersen's Maysam (Game Winner) appeared to have her running shoes on Sunday while registering a hard-fought victory at odds of 3-2 over favored Supa Speed (Justify) in the GIII Fasig-Tipton Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita. Rushing to the lead from her outside perch facing three others, Maysam, dropping the blinkers here, clicked off an opening quarter in :23/45 as even-money choice Supa Speed kept the frontrunner in her...

Michael McCarthy enjoyed the kind of day most trainers could only wish for last Saturday at Santa Anita. He won four races on an 11-race card including the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile with Formidable Man (City of Light), GII San Felipe with 3-year-old Journalism (Curlin) and GII Buena Vista with Liguria (War Front). "It was a memorable day," McCarthy said Sunday morning. "I'm just very pleased for my guys at the barn. It takes a lot to have a day like yesterday. It was a real team effort." In...

'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) has always been highly regarded. By one of the nation's hottest sires and sold for $425,000 as a 2022 Keeneland September yearling, he affirmed that regard with a Grade I win at two. Sent to the sidelines for nearly a year before coming back to win the GII Cigar Mile Handicap in his only stakes start at three, he opened his 4-year-old campaign with a second to White Abarrio (Race Day) in the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park before shipping...

About half an hour removed from a stirring victory in the GII San Felipe Stakes with Journalism (Curlin), jockey Umberto Rispoli and trainer Michael McCarthy were right back into the spotlight when Mr. & Mrs. William Warren's Formidable Man (City of Light) closed good ground hard up against the rail and was along in the final strides to add the GI F. E. Kilroe Mile Stakes. Off at odds of 5-1, the $375,000 Keeneland September yearling--by the sire who gave McCarthy and the Warrens memorable victories in the GI Breeders'...

The overriding question going into Saturday's GII DK Horse San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita was whether unbeaten GII San Vicente Stakes winner and $3.2-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga star Barnes (Into Mischief) could win at two turns. He very well may have if it weren't for another horse who also sold at that 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale: $825,000 Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners buy and Denali Stud-consigned Journalism (Curlin). The GII Los Alamitos Futurity winner made his 3-year-old debut in the San Felipe with a powerful finish that will likely propel him near...

5th-Santa Anita, $67,000, Msw, 3-1, 4/5yo, f/m, 6fT, 1:08.78, fm, 1 3/4 lengths. QUICK BROWN FOX (f, 4, Justify--Bast {MGISW, $852,200}, by Uncle Mo), the first foal out of MGISW Bast (Uncle Mo), came in off nearly a year-long layoff to break her maiden on the turf. Debuted on the main track last April, she was beaten just a neck as the favorite before going to the sidelines for owner/breeder Spendthrift Farm who took their time bringing her back to the Richard Mandella operation. Favored at even money Saturday, Quick...

As the calendar turns to March, Derby fever kicks into high gear with no fewer than six races awarding points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby or the Kentucky Oaks respectively this weekend. Saturday features the return of the undefeated GII San Vincente Stakes winner Barnes (Into Mischief) for trainer Bob Baffert as one of a six-horse field in the GII DK Horse San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita. The $3.2m FTSAUG grad lines up with a pair of well-regarded stablemates in Mellencamp (Constitution) and 'TDN Rising Star' Rodriguez...

When Rashmi (Oscar Performance), the latest ingenue to punctuate a dynasty of George Strawbridge-bred starlets, made short thrift of the latest running of the GIII Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita, her win affirmed the charmed run enjoyed by her trainer, Jonathan Thomas, shows no outward signs of lost momentum. Will Then (War of Will) cruising away with the GIII Jimmy Durante Stakes. Truly Quality (Quality Road) showing rare quality in the GII Hollywood Turf Club Stakes. Mrs. Astor (Lookin At Lucky) doing double Grade III duty in the Red Carpet...