Santa Anita
Due to ongoing inclement weather, Santa Anita has cancelled their Friday race card. Track officials said racing will continue as scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. Santa Anita will add a race day next week to make up for the cancellation. The track remains open for simulcasting on Friday.
In this continuing series from last year, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Santa Anita's GI Beholder Mile S., the first Grade I event of the year in the distaff division. Formerly the Vanity, formerly run at Hollywood Park, and formerly run at distances up to 1 1/4 miles, the Beholder Mile has had one constant: class. Some of the most decorated racemares of our sport have won it since it was inaugurated in 1940,...
Due to forecasted high winds and heavy rain in the Bay Area on Friday, Golden Gate Fields will move the Friday, March 10 live race card to Thursday, March 9. Eight races are on the program for the now-Thursday card with first post time remaining at 12:45 PM.
Following the cancellation of racing Feb. 25 and 26, the California Horse Racing Board has granted Santa Anita permission to add a card for this coming Thursday. A pair of $72,000 allowance races will highlight Thursday's program, which has a first post time of 12:30 p.m. Race six, for fillies and mares bred or sired in California, has attracted a field of seven at six furlongs on the main track. Thursday's seventh race, for older horses at a mile and one quarter over the Camino Real Turf Course, attracted a...
Michael Lund Peterson's Faiza (Girvin) kept her record perfect in tact--and gave her sire his second graded win of the weekend--with a stylish victory in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. at Santa Anita Sunday. Sent off the 4-5 favorite, the bay filly tracked pacesetting longshot Blessed Touch (Girvin) through moderate fractions of :24.00 and :48.32. She stuck a head in front into the far turn, but Blessed Touch, proving surprisingly determined, battled back and those two rivals turned for home together with And Tell Me Nolies (Arrogate) joining the fray...
'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence)'s dominant sophomore debut in Saturday's GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream is understandably going to generate glowing headlines because of his kingpin status as the comebacking divisional champion. But that sharp win shouldn't overshadow the thoroughly convincing GII San Felipe S. score by Practical Move (Practical Joke) at Santa Anita, which on its own terms was emphatic enough to merit a significant reshuffling of the deck of GI Kentucky Derby contenders. The Fountain of Youth S. has evolved into somewhat of a "trap" race...
Stilleto Boy (Shackleford), so often a major player in graded races but seldom a winner, finally got the big one, winning the GI Santa Anita H. Saturday at the Great Race Place. He was third in last year's Big 'Cap, had filled out the trifecta in both the 2022 and 2023 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., and had placed in another two Grade I races. Saturday was his day to shine, as he wore down pacesetting favorite and GISW Defunded (Dialed In)--whom he finished one slot behind in the...
Gold Phoenix (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}) jumped out of the ground with an eighth of a mile to run in Saturday's GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. at Santa Anita and outsprinted the fast-finishing Du Jour (Temple City) for a maiden success at the top level. Beaten for speed, the chestnut settled in the second half of the field as Air Force Red (Air Force Blue) cut out a modest pace of :47.06 for the opening half-mile while pursued by Masteroffoxhounds (War Front). The Kilroe field was tightly bunched as they...
Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) kicks off his sophomore season in the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park, one of 14 graded stakes races on tap Saturday. The Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable colorbearer concluded his campaign with his third straight win at the top level in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland Nov. 4. "It seems like he's gotten even better and better since [the Breeders' Cup]," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "It's great to have won with the foundation...
Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) gave another vote of confidence to the bargain shoppers when the $25,000 yearling made a splash on the Derby trail last weekend in the GII Rebel S. The week before, Angel of Empire (Classic Empire)--a $70,000 Keeneland September buy--proved best in the GII Risen Star S. This weekend there is potential for another big win by the underdog in the GII San Felipe S., but there is also the likely possibility that the owner of one of those sensational seven-figure purchases will be rewarded. The...
Bill Spawr, 83, announced his retirement and disbanded his stable after a 46-year career as a public trainer. According to the Santa Anita media team, Spawr was a star running back at Downey High School who got hooked on racing while working as a part time clerk in a local liquor store that served up Daily Racing Form and gravitated to the racetrack full-time at age 23. He spent 14 years as a veterinarian assistant before opening a public stable in 1977. With 1,709 career wins, Spawr captured two Winter/Spring...
The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will be the beneficiary of a special charity Pick 5 wager featured on CNBC during its next stop on the 1/ST Racing Tour Saturday. The upcoming day of coast-to-coast racing features 13 stakes races including the GI Santa Anita H., as well as the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park and the GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita Park. NBC Sports will produce and air a two-hour telecast from 4-6 p.m. (ET) on CNBC. Five of the six stakes broadcast on the show...