DEL MAR, Calif. – The work jockey Joe Talamo has done with the likes of Dabster in recent months has made him an increasingly vital cog in the barn of trainer Bob Baffert, for whom Talamo teamed last week to win with a pair of promising 2-year-olds, Mucho Gusto and Coliseum.
Dabster will make his fourth start under Talamo on Sunday at Del Mar in the Grade 3 Native Diver. They own two wins and a second in concert. Mucho Gusto and Coliseum are a combined 3 for 3 with Talamo.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mr Vargas, has been disqualified from a victory in a race at Del Mar on Aug. 18, Del Mar’s stewards ruled this week. Mr Vargas tested in excess of the permitted level of procaine, a Class 3 medication, according to the ruling.
Mr Vargas won the race by three-quarters of a length at odds of 5-1 under Joe Talamo.
The purse has been ordered redistributed, with owner Samantha Siegel and Talamo instructed to return their share to the track’s paymaster of purses by Dec. 18.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A good case could have been made that Pay Any Price deserved a starting berth earlier this month in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. After all, he is the North American record holder going five furlongs on the turf and he had won his last four starts, all at Gulfstream Park, by margins ranging from 1 1/4 to 5 1/4 lengths.
Any hope Rijeka would start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs earlier this month ended when the colt finished a troubled third in the Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 8.
Rijeka did not have the credentials to merit a pre-entry in a race that eventually oversubscribed.
Oxy Lady, the five-length winner of the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes at Aqueduct at odds of 36-1, is being pointed to the Grade 1, $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos on Dec. 8, trainer Jack Sisterson said Friday.
Sisterson, the former assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill, said he prefers the Grade 1 status and the extra week of the Starlet compared to the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, scheduled for next Saturday at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After taking a week or so to get used to his new surroundings, Mexican sensation Kukulkan stretched his legs for the first time since arriving at Gulfstream Park and breezed four furlongs in 48.85 on Thanksgiving morning.
More than five months of live action at Tampa Bay Downs gets underway Saturday when the Oldsmar, Fla., track opens the gates for its 93rd season with a 10-race card.
The status quo remains largely in place at Tampa, which is good news, given how popular the track’s simulcast signal has become on the national scene. All-sources handle averaged more than $4 million at the 2017-18 meet, and similar numbers can be expected for 2018-19.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association announced a purse increase for the Aqueduct winter meet that begins Dec. 7.
Open maiden races will be worth $68,000, a $5,000 increase from last winter. New York-bred maiden races will be worth $60,000, an increase of $5,000 from last winter.
Open allowance races will have their purses increased by $3,000 to $7,000 compared with last year, depending on the condition of the race.
MIAMI – It’s been five years since trainer Linda Rice has had a regular presence in South Florida. But that streak will come to an end this winter, with Rice having decided to send down a small portion of her large and successful New York-based stable to Gulfstream Park for the 2018-19 championship meet, which opens on Dec. 1.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has announced plans to build a seven-story hotel as part of a $100 million expansion project that will get under way following the end of the track’s 2019 season in May. The track also plans to expand its existing gaming area by 28,000 square feet and construct a 14,000-square-foot event center that can house 1,500 people.
The expansion of the 114-year-old Oaklawn will be one of the largest hospitality investments ever made in Arkansas, according to a press release. Planning for the project has been in the works since its last expansion in 2014.
