ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Chad Brown worked 18 horses, 10 of whom will be participating in graded stakes next weekend between New York and California, over a muddy training track Sunday morning at Belmont Park.
Brown sent out Patternrecognition and Timeline for solo workouts in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.
In what seems like a shocking development, Santa Anita has decided to replace its talented and popular track announcer, Michael Wrona, Tim Ritvo of The Stronach Group said on Saturday, confirming a note on Twitter from Wrona saying he had been let go.
"It is true," Ritvo said when asked to confirm the news. "We should have a replacement named in the next couple of days. We have a replacement. We just wanted to let Michael know first."
Cosmic Burst is back home at Remington Park following her win in the $250,000 Zia Park Oaks and her next move is still being determined, trainer Donnie Von Hemel said Saturday.
Von Hemel said following the Nov. 21 race in New Mexico that Cosmic Burst would either be put away for the season or make one more start this year, in the $100,000 She’s All In for fillies and mares on the final card of the Remington meet Dec. 16. He said she has emerged well from the Zia Oaks.
There is a secret to the success Welder has had this meet at Remington Park.
And, it’s a very sweet one, according to trainer Theresa Luneack.
“Welder is fueled by peppermints,” she said. “He is the most spoiled animal on the planet. He’s everybody’s favorite and he gets his way. He’s very spoiled, and I feel like the more he’s spoiled, the better he runs.
“We keep the peppermints flowing.”
It was a happy Thanksgiving indeed for the Mike Stidham barn at Fair Grounds.
Stidham won an older-horse first-level turf allowance on Thursday’s card with Zumurudee; a 2-year-old first-level turf-sprint allowance with Credit Swap; and a filly-and-mare second-level turf-route allowance with Superiority Complex.
“Yeah, we were pretty pleased with it,” Stidham said Friday.
From a speed-figure standpoint, at least, the Illinois-bred sprinter Wynn Time was as good Thursday following a seven-month layoff as he was at his peak last spring. Wynn Time got a 100 Beyer Speed Figure for running six furlongs in 1:09.68 while winning the $75,000 Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds by one length. Wynn Time’s top figures last March and April at Oaklawn Park were 100 and 101.
Wynn Time missed a work with a fever after shipping to Fair Grounds earlier this month, but still was adequately fit to let his talent shine in his first start back from the long break.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Life in Shambles won a stakes for the first time in his career when he took Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Fall Highweight Handicap by three-quarters of a length. Now, he may try for his second stakes in the $100,000 Gravesend here on Dec. 23.
Life in Shambles finished second in the Gravesend last year, one of several good performances for the horse over Aqueduct’s main track.
A promising victory by Amandine in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at Del Mar on Thursday may be the start off a successful autumn and winter with European imports for the partnership of Red Barons Barn and Rancho Temescal.
Earlier this autumn, the family partnership, headed by father Jed and son Tim Cohen, bought six horses of racing age in England for approximately $680,000. Amandine, a 3-year-old British-bred filly by Shamardal, was not part of that group.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Vekoma, the 1 3/4-length winner of the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 4, will skip next Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes here and point to a 3-year-old campaign, trainer George Weaver confirmed Friday.
Weaver noted that Vekoma was a May 22 foal and that he “still has some maturing to do.” The horse has been based at Palm Beach Downs in South Florida since shortly after the Nashua and is in the middle of a 30-day break.
Elysea’s World, the winner of three Grade 3 stakes in the last year, all in Florida and New Jersey, has joined trainer Richard Baltas’s stable at Santa Anita after being bought for $500,000 earlier this month.
Elysea’s World, 5, has won 6 of 22 starts and earned $566,222. Elysea’s World was bought at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale and is now owned by Abbondanza Racing, Jerry McClanahan, and Chris Dunn, Baltas said. Elysea’s World was previously trained by Chad Brown for Sheep Pond Partners and All Pro Racing.
