Santa Anita

Jack Carava, who saddled better than 1,100 winners in a career dating back to 1986, has announced he is trading in his stopwatch in exchange for a condition book, as he will book mounts on behalf of Tyler Baze beginning with the Santa Anita fall meet Sept. 19. Baze is returning to California following an eight-month absence. "The time is right," said Carava, 54, who has operated both a public and private stable in Southern California for the past 33 years. "I've had a lot of success with Tyler over...

Santa Anita will provide a home for the not-for-proft Free Animal Doctor, which will provide free veterinary surgeries for at-risk animals. Officials at Santa Anita are working with Free Animal Doctor to make the organization's services available to the track's backside community and other community groups at no or low cost. "There is a need for this type of small animal veterinary assistance locally and nationwide," said Santa Anita's Aidan Butler, Acting Executive Director, CA Racing Operations for The Stronach Group. "We are well positioned to provide the assistance needed...

The California Legislature voted Sunday night to approve a bill designed to improve horse racing safety in the state. "We must do everything possible to make horse racing safer for animals and jockeys, and this bill takes another step in that direction," Sen. Bill Dodd, sponsor of the bill, said in a statement released by his office Monday. "I thank the Legislature for approving my plan, which will help ensure track conditions are right and horses are fit before they hit the starting gate." Senate Bill 800 is expected to...

TDN Rising Star Charlatan (Speightstown), a Triple Crown candidate earlier in the season before being sidelined by injury, is expected to return to training soon, according to Starlight Racing's Jack Wolf, who campaigns the sophomore in partnership with SF Racing, Madaket Stables and Stonestreet Stables. After detecting some filling to the front ankle following a June 1 workout [five furlongs in 1:00.80] at Santa Anita, Bob Baffert confirmed that the colt would get 45 days off after an MRI revealed chips which required minor surgery. "He's doing really well," said...

Santa Anita Park has broken ground on a new turf chute adjacent to the main dirt track's seven-furlong chute that will allow sprints up to 6 1/2 furlongs to be conducted on the grass oval. The new configuration won't be ready in time for the upcoming meet that commences Sept. 19. But once the extension is completed, track management is going to consider reopening the currently closed 6 1/2-furlong downhill turf course for select usage. Aidan Butler, the chief strategy officer and executive director of California racing operations for The...

Santa Anita Park's autumn meet (Sept. 19 through Oct. 25) will feature 24 stakes over 18 racing days--more or less in line with 2019's meeting minus last year's Breeders' Cup World Championships. The Arcadia oval will host seven "Win and You're In" qualifiers for this year's Breeders' Cup at Keeneland: the $100,000 Speakeasy S. on opening day for GII Juvenile Turf Sprint hopefuls; the GI Rodeo Drive S. (GI F/M Turf), GI American Pharoah S. (GI Juvenile), GI Awesome Again S. (GI Classic) and GII Chandelier S. (GI Juvenile Fillies)...

Sherwood Chillingworth, the longtime director and executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Association who passed away last October at 93, will be honored with The Chillingworth S.-formerly the LA Woman S.--to be contested during Santa Anita's Autumn season. Prior to 2009, the Grade III contest for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up was run during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita as the Louis R. Rowan S., named after one of the founders of the Oak Tree Racing Association. "Chilly was one of the sport's true gentlemen,"...

When Victor Espinoza rolled through the gates of Los Alamitos racecourse on the afternoon of Saturday, July 4, he did so anticipating a quick in-and-out with few disruptions. The Triple Crown-winning jockey had two mounts, in the eighth and ninth races, neither of them hot fancies. Approaching the jocks' room, however, Espinoza paused. "There wasn't enough room for all of us," said Espinoza of the room's quarters, which had been split between Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred riders. "We were stacked in there like sardines." Events from that afternoon have played...

Del Mar has cancelled its weekend racing--scheduled to run Friday through Sunday--because of multiple jockeys testing positive for COVID-19, as first reported in Daily Racing Form. In a subsequent press release Wednesday afternoon, Del Mar explained that all of the track's jockeys and jockey room personnel were tested on Tuesday by San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency staff, with 15 jockeys showing up positive for COVID-19. All were reportedly asymptomatic. "Assuming these individuals continue to show no symptoms, they will be isolated for a total of 10 days...

Have saddle, will travel--a well-worn aphorism. But is it a wise one to emulate in this time of the coronavirus? Within the past week, Flavien Prat, Victor Espinoza, Eduard Rojas Fernandez, Luis Saez and Martin Garcia have all tested positive for the virus--a chain of events that can be traced back to Los Alamitos over the July 4 weekend, said Derek Lawson, Prat's agent. "There's no question that that's where it happened," he said, of Prat's infection occurring at the Southern California facility. But against a broader surge in coronavirus...

According to his agent, Derek Lawson, top California rider Flavien Prat has tested positive for the coronavirus. Because he left California to ride Saturday at Keeneland, Prat was required to take a test Sunday before being allowed to ride at Del Mar. The test results were positive and Prat had to take off all his mounts. "These athletes, they know their bodies," Lawson said. "When I picked him up at the airport, he said, 'I think I have it.'" Lawson said that Prat is feeling fine and will return to...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. After kicking off his career with a promising runner-up effort at Santa Anita last month, the highly regarded 2-year-old Ambivalent (Constitution) will look to go one better at the upcoming Del Mar meeting. "Being a son of Constitution, which is just a huge feather in your cap, he's a horse that we've been excited about from day one," two-time GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill said. Purchased for...