OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Among the horses Jerome Stakes winner Mind Control could face in the Withers are Tax and Not That Brady.
Tax, trained by Danny Gargan, finished third in the Remsen in his first start after being claimed Oct. 21 for $50,000 by Hugh Lynch and Lucas Stritsman, who races as Corms Racing. Since the Remsen, both Dean Reeves and Raymond Hill III bought part-interest in Tax, Gargan said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following a successful return to the races in Tuesday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes going one mile, Mind Control will likely attempt 1 1/8 miles for the first time in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 2, trainer Gregg Sacco said Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Owners and trainers who race on the New York Racing Association circuit will get some relief when it comes their workers’ compensation insurance premiums, with a $250 reduction in their initial base payment for the policy that covers jockeys and exercise riders.
John Servis might never top his accomplishments of 2004, but he came close last year.
He won 111 races, his most since 1989. His stable earnings of $5.89 million were his best since 2004, when Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. And he won the Grade 1 Frizette and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with Jaywalk, who in the coming weeks is expected to be voted 2-year-old filly champion.
For good measure, Servis won his first training title at Parx, where he has been stabled since 1985.
The second race at Laurel Park on Saturday was one for the record books. That is, if racing kept records on such things.
Tidy Stripe, ridden by Forest Boyce, and Very Charming, with Carol Cedeno aboard, hit the wire together, resulting in a rare dead heat between two female riders.
Veteran Mid-Atlantic trainer Ned Allard never heard of it happening before. He contacted Abigail Fuller, the regular rider of 1985 champion 3-year-old filly Mom’s Command, whom Allard trained. Fuller could not find any evidence of a similar occurrence.
Charles Town set a track record for per-race handle at its 2018 meet, which concluded Saturday might.
Betting handle per race averaged $147,818, an increase of 6.5 percent over the record of $138,821, which was set in 2017.
Arnaldo Bocachica won his first Charles Town riding title with 159 wins, 50 more than runner-up Jose Montano.
Jeff Runco won his 13th consecutive training title with 125 victories, 22 more than Ronney Brown in second.
Trainer Claudio Gonzalez and jockey Trevor McCarthy topped their respective divisions at the Laurel Park fall meeting, which ran from Sept. 7 through Dec. 31.
Gonzalez, 42, won 47 races at the meet to complete a sweep of the three sessions held at Laurel in 2018. He has now won five of the last six Laurel titles dating back to the 2017 winter meet.
“There’s no secret, we put them in the right spots,” Gonzalez said. “The owners understand that if we lose a horse and win the race, it’s okay.”
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jockey Ry Eikleberry guided home Dust Roller to capture the second race at Turf Paradise Monday, notching career win 2,000. Not to rest on his laurels, the 29-year-old came right back to win the day’s third race to take his total to 2001 as part of a three-win day.
Eikleberry, born and raised in Cave Creek, a small town just north of Phoenix, is the son of trainer Kevin Eikleberry who gave him a leg up for his big win. He said his father first put him on a horse when he was a 2-year-old and he’s been going ever since.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The top turf filly Californiagoldrush sustained a knee injury while finishing seventh as the favorite in the Grade 1 American Oaks on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita and will be sidelined for an indefinite period, trainer Neil Drysdale said Tuesday morning.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Manny Franco rode three winners on Monday’s eight-race card at Aqueduct, closing out a year in which he led all jockeys in wins on the New York Racing Association circuit with 244. It was his first NYRA single-year riding title.
Chad Brown won his fourth NYRA year-end trainer’s title with 154 wins while Michael Dubb won his seventh owner’s title in the last nine years with 68 victories.
