OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Servis would appear to have his contender for the Kentucky Oaks in Jaywalk. He hopes to have a horse for the Kentucky Derby as well.
One of his Derby prospects could be Lucky Lee, who will make his next start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 2 at Aqueduct.
The 37-year-old Irish import Jerry O’Dwyer showed up at Laurel Park early in 2017 with three horses and hopes of finding his way as a head horse trainer. It worked. O’Dwyer won 10 races in 2017 and 17 in 2018. His stable swelled to as many as 18 horses this past summer, and though he is down to 10 active runners for winter racing in Maryland, there are a half-dozen or so 2-year-olds slated to stock the barn in the spring.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The undefeated filly Bashful may have her stakes debut as early as next month after an attractive win in an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs last Sunday.
Trainer Richard Mandella said he is considering the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs on Feb. 16 for Bashful, who is unbeaten in two starts. Owned by Fox Hill Farm, Bashful won her debut in a maiden special weight race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar in November.
“We’re going to look at a couple of stakes races and give her a shot,” Mandella said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The unraced filly Hollywood Girl is scheduled to have her debut in a maiden special weight race on the hillside turf course for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Trainer John Shirreffs said the race must stay on turf on a day with a forecast for showers for Hollywood Girl to run. He rates Hollywood Girl as a long-term prospect for longer turf races.
“I want to keep her on the turf,” Shirreffs said. “I entered her for turf only. I think she’s more of a distance filly.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gift Box, who won the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes in his California debut on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, worked a half-mile in 48.40 seconds on Thursday for an expected start in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Feb. 2.
Trainer John Sadler left open the possibility that Gift Box would skip the $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in favor of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 9. With a purse of $500,000, the Big Cap at 1 1/4 miles is the richest race of the track’s winter-spring meeting for older horses.
Frankie Dettori has been booked to ride Delta Prince in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park, according to the noted bloodstock agent Eugenio Colombo, who works for Delta Prince's owner, Frank Stronach.
Delta Prince, trained by Jimmy Jerkens, most recently finished third in the Bold Ruler at Aqueduct. His biggest win last year came in the Grade 2 King Edward at Woodbine, a course over which he also finished fourth in the Woodbine Mile. He also was second in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga last summer.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he remains at Belmont Park with trainer Charlton Baker, the Grade 1 winner Joking has been officially retired.
Joking hasn’t run since taking the Grade 1 Vosburgh in 2016. He got very sick after shipping to Southern California for that year’s Breeders’ Cup and had to spend several months out West before returning to New York.
Baker tried to get the gelded son of Distorted Humor back to the races last summer. He scratched him from the Grade 2 True North on June 8 after the horse developed a foot abscess. The gelding was in training until last fall.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Fans of the New York Mets are not the only ones hoping for a big year from Syndergaard.
Syndergaard, the horse named after Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, will return to stakes company in Saturday’s $100,000 Say Florida Sandy for New York-breds going seven furlongs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Kendrick Carmouche, who broke his right leg in a spill at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 9, believes he’s on schedule for an early-March return to race-riding.
Carmouche recently began getting on a horse and jogging him at a farm near his Delaware home. It’s another step on what has been a long road back.
Carmouche said he had his last day of swimming on Wednesday, and the plan is start cardio exercises next week.
“I’m at the three-eighths pole right now,” Carmouche said Wednesday by phone from his home. “Believe me when I tell you I can’t wait.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017 who is a finalist for the same award for 2018, worked six furlongs in 1:12.20 at the San Luis Rey Downs training center on Wednesday for the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes here on Jan. 19.
Trainer Peter Miller timed Roy H galloping out seven furlongs in 1:26. Miller described the workout as a breeze.
A winner of 9 of 22 starts and $3,019,765, Roy H won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3 for the second consecutive year.
