Santa Anita
1st-Santa Anita, $54,000, Msw, 5-18, 3, 4,/5yo, f/m, 1m, 1:39.78, ft, 4 1/2 lengths. MISS ROCKETTE (f, 3, Into Mischief--Song of Spring {GSW, $234,403}, by Spring At Last) was sent to her owner's home track at Oaklawn Park as the 4-5 chalk for her 8 1/2-furlong debut Apr. 20 and she looked on her way to an easy victory only to be run down by the slow-starting Flashy Dancer (Curlin) in a 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy performance. Content to take the trail from third as chief market rival Ms Bo J...
8th-SA, $54K, Msw, 3-5yo, 1m, 8:09 p.m. ET. MAGNIFY (Justify), a 3-year-old colt, makes his debut for the Bob Baffert barn on Saturday. Out of champion 3-year-old filly and MGISW Stellar Wind (Curlin), the Magnier homebred is her second to make the races, but she has since produced a filly named In the Stars (Into Mischief), who was a $300,000 buy for G. Watts Humphrey Jr. at last year's Keeneland September Sale. The 2017 Keeneland November sales topper when she was taken home by M.V. Magnier for the lofty sum...
California-based GI Kentucky Derby runners Stronghold (Ghostzapper) and Endlessly (Oscar Performance) have returned to Santa Anita after their respective seventh- and ninth-place finishes at Churchill Downs, according to Santa Anita's track notes Thursday. Each was back in his own stall Tuesday. Stronghold jogged Thursday in his first time back to the track. "He came out of the race in good shape," trainer Phil D'Amato said Thursday morning of the Eric and Sharon Waller homebred. D'Amato continued: "I thought he got a good stalking trip behind the speed. He made a...
In the calm before the storm that will be next weekend's GI Kentucky Derby, a lone pair of graded turf races offer opportunities for older horses on the West Coast Saturday. Golden Gate Fields, whose closure was announced last year, cards their final GIII San Francisco Mile S. A full field of 12 lines up for the one-mile contest and while the race is open for those 3-years-old and up, the youngest runner is Blaine Wright's 4-year-old Clovisconnection (Vronsky). The class appears to be deepest amongst the 5-year-olds with Phil...
Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, trainer Candelario Villamar has been suspended 15-days and fined $1,000 after his trainee, Olivia's Choice, tested positive for capsaicin when finishing third at Turf Paradise on Feb. 26. A Class B controlled medication under HISA, capsaicin is the active ingredient in chilli peppers causing burning and irritation, and can be found in topical analgesics. Trainer Valorie Lund has been banned seven days and fined...
A casino is supposed to be on the way, but in the meantime these are tough times for racing in Chicago and its only remaining racetrack, Hawthorne. They still don't have any outside revenue from a casino, their purses are meager and their simulcast signal gets lost on days like Saturday, when they went up against the likes of Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Keeneland, Oaklawn and Santa Anita. The handle Saturday was $1,019,178. It should have been three times that. We've seen a lot of tracks experiment with lower takeouts. The latest...
Looking to extend her unbeaten streak to four, C R K Stable's Medoro (Honor Code) was made to work for it, but ultimately outbattled a very tough Shiloh's Mistress (Vino Rosso) in the GIII Providencia S. at Santa Anita. The 1-5 mortal looked to step away a half-step slowly under Antonio Fresu, relegating her to a rearward position through the opening exchanges, as Shiloh's Mistress pushed through from the fence to take up the running beneath Umberto Rispoli. A fraction headstrong as a result of the tardy dispatch, Medoro got...
With less than two weeks to the first weekend in May, a gaggle of contenders for the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks took to racetracks across the country for some critical breezes Saturday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) has remained at Keeneland since his slashing victory in the Apr. 6 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and returned to the worktab for the first time on a chilly morning, breezing a half-mile in the company inside of recent Keeneland maiden winner White Palomino (Kitten's Joy) in...
1st-SA, $54K, Msw, 3-5yo, f, 7f, 4:00 p.m. ET. JANE AUSTEN (Tapit) makes her first start for Muir Hut Stables and trainer Mark Glatt. A $750,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, the gray is out of MGSP Shayjolie (Indian Charlie), who Speedway Stables acquired for $400,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale. The filly's SP second dam produced GI Woodward S. runner-up Mythical Power (Congaree). Making her debut for trainer Richard Mandella is Quick Brown Fox (Justify). The Spendthrift homebred's dam MGISW Bast (Uncle) went to the...
Proxy (Tapit) provided Godolphin with its first winner of the GII Oaklawn H. just 12 months ago and the progressive Highland Falls (Curlin) has legitimate claims to double that tally when he squares off with 10 others in the nine-furlong contest. Trained by Brad Cox--who somewhat surprisingly has never saddled an Oaklawn H. winner--the homebred son of GI Breeders' Cup Distaff upsetter Round Pond (Awesome Again) won three of his first four trips to the post in maiden and allowance company back east and was scarcely disgraced last time in...
Vlahos (r, 3, Kantharos--Must Be Dreaming, by Run Away and Hide), a razor sharp debut winner for owner Dan Northrup and trainer Luis Mendez with a 98 Beyer Speed Figure at Santa Anita Mar. 9, has been purchased privately by Ty Leatherman and Todd Cady and transferred to Doug O'Neill. The sale price was not disclosed. The chestnut, a steal for $35,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, is aiming to make his next start in the $600,000 GII Pat Day Mile S. on the Kentucky Derby undercard. He has posted...
Edited Press Release FanDuel TV, the New York Racing Association, Keeneland and Santa Anita will team up with Hall of Fame jockeys along with some of the top active riders in the country and other prominent racing personalities on Sunday, Apr. 21 for the sixth annual telethon presented by Lane's End to raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF). The event will be broadcast on both FanDuel TV and America's Day at the Races on the Fox Sports family of networks as well as streamed on TVG.com. Fans...