Sun, 12/02/2018 - 17:38

Maximus Mischief may race twice before Kentucky Derby

Barbara D. Livingston
Maximus Mischief returned $4.80 with the Remsen Stakes win.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Maximus Mischief, winner of the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct Saturday, returned to Parx Racing on Saturday night but will soon leave for South Florida where he will likely have two starts in preparation for a planned start in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

Maximus Mischief scored a front-running, 2 1/4-length victory in the Remsen to remain undefeated in three starts. It was his first start around two turns and first at 1 1/8 miles.

Trainer Butch Reid said Maximus Mischief was a bit tired but otherwise came out of the race in good order.

Sun, 12/02/2018 - 16:09

Baffert notches 20th 2-year-old maiden victory

DEL MAR, Calif. - The first-time starter Kingly gave trainer Bob Baffert his 20th win with a 2-year-old maiden this year Saturday at Del Mar.

Kingly, a full brother to the stakes winners Mohaymen and New Year’s Day, won a six-furlong race by three-quarters of a length over Stretford End, the 3-5 favorite. Kingly ($10.20) was always near the front, while racing on the inside under jockey Drayden Van Dyke.

“He’s bred to be a good horse,” Baffert said. “He showed me a lot. He showed me more in the afternoon than in the morning, that’s a positive.”

Sun, 12/02/2018 - 16:02

King of Speed to switch surfaces for Los Alamitos Futurity

Shigeki Kikkawa
King of Speed will be nominated to the Breeders' Cup for $100,000 and run in the Juvenile Turf, said trainer Jeff Bonde.

King of Speed, a multiple stakes winner on turf in recent months, is switching surfaces for Saturday’s Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity.

Trainer Jeff Bonde said over the weekend that King of Speed will run in the $300,000 Los Alamitos Futurity and will be ridden for the first time by Kent Desormeaux in the 1 1/16-mile race. Desormeaux replaces Gary Stevens, who retired in November because of a neck injury.

Desormeaux takes the mount on a colt who finished 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on a yielding turf course at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.

Sun, 12/02/2018 - 15:17

Trainer Brown in position for third consecutive Eclipse Award

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Chad Brown won all three Grade 1 races run last weekend.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There is still a month to go, but trainer Chad Brown has already attained single-year bests in wins, purse earnings, and Grade 1 victories as he sets his sights on a potential third straight Eclipse Award as North America’s leading trainer.

Sat, 12/01/2018 - 19:35

Espinoza progressing toward return, now targeting mid-January

Benoit Photo
Victor Espinoza stands between the actors Luke (left) and Owen Wilson during the trophy presentation for the Hollywood Derby on Saturday at Del Mar.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Victor Espinoza, the Hall of Fame jockey who has been sidelined since a morning training accident more than four months ago, on Saturday at Del Mar said he was making excellent progress and hoped to return to action by mid-January.

“I’m getting there, almost there,” said Espinoza, who was visiting the track for the first time since the accident on July 22, an indication of how well he is doing.

Fri, 11/30/2018 - 15:06

Surgery helps Dawn the Destroyer

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Dawn the Destroyer wins an allowance race Thursday at Aqueduct.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Dawn the Destroyer ended a five-race losing streak dating to July 2017 with a 4 1/4-length victory in a second-level allowance race at Aqueduct on Thursday.

It was her first start since April and first since undergoing a throat operation known as a tie-back, according to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. The tie-back helps keep cartilage from interfering with a horse’s airway.

“She came back a different filly,” said McLaughlin, who trains Dawn the Destroyer for Stonestreet Stable. “She filled out, looks fabulous, and was working very, very well.”

Fri, 11/30/2018 - 15:00

Complexity, Sippican Harbor may get late start next year

Susie Raisher
Complexity trains at Belmont in October.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Complexity and Sippican Harbor, Grade 1 winners this year on the New York Racing Association circuit, are both recovering from minor issues that may delay their 3-year-old seasons.

Complexity, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne, came out of his 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with sore shins, according to trainer Chad Brown. Complexity is getting some time off at Stonestreet Farm in Ocala, Fla.

Fri, 11/30/2018 - 14:56

Aqueduct 2019 stakes program has few changes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association will offer 52 stakes worth $7.37 million at Aqueduct in the first third of 2019, according to the schedule it released Friday.

Aside from a few changes to the New York Claiming Championship Day on March 30 and the addition of the $100,000 Bernardini Stakes, the stakes program virtually mirrors that of 2018. The Bernardini, at 1 5/16 miles, will be run March 2.

Fri, 11/30/2018 - 14:36

Collazo's Field Trip turns bad day into good season

Leslie Martin/Coglianese Photos
Field Trip has won three of four starts since returning from an eight-month layoff.

The last thing any trainer wants to see is his horse being vanned back to the barn after a race. But for Henry Collazo, the free ride Field Trip received following his second-place finish in a conditioned-claiming dash here last Dec. 15 turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Field Trip raced under a $30,000 claiming tag that day, and there was a slip in the claim box with his name on it. But under a rule invoked at Gulfstream Park just 13 days earlier, the claim was voided as a result of Field Trip being vanned off.

Fri, 11/30/2018 - 14:16

Greyvitos ready for another comeback

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Greyvitos returns Sunday after nearly seven months on the sidelines, the second extended layoff of his career.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Act 1 for Greyvitos included a pair of stakes victories last year as a 2-year-old. Act 2 included a Hail Mary attempt to make the Kentucky Derby following a four-month layoff.

Act 3 begins on Sunday at Del Mar, when the talented 3-year-old colt returns from a layoff of nearly seven months in a second-level allowance that is designed to have him at his best for the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes going seven furlongs on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.