Mon, 07/02/2018 - 11:16

Queen's Plate top three all appear headed for Prince of Wales

Michael Burns
Wonder Gadot is expected to use the Prince of Wales Stakes as a stepping-stone to the Aug. 18 Alabama Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Wonder Gadot drew away to win the 159th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate by 4 3/4 lengths at Woodbine on Saturday, and will likely use the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes to set up a start in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 18, trainer Mark Casse said.

Sun, 07/01/2018 - 19:35

Hoppertunity works for Suburban; Mubtaahij drills for Cornhusker

Barbara D. Livingston
Hoppertunity works six furlongs at Santa Anita in 1:01.80 Sunday.

Trainer Bob Baffert will have stakes-winning older horses racing across the country this month.

Hoppertunity, the 7-year-old multiple stakes-winning millionaire, will start in the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Park on Saturday. Hoppertunity, who won the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational at Belmont Park on June 9, worked six furlongs in 1:13.40 at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Sun, 07/01/2018 - 19:29

Unique Bella works ahead of Clement L. Hirsch Stakes

Benoit Photo
Unique Bella pulled clear with a quarter-mile remaining in Saturday's Grade 1 Beholder Mile.

Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017, is within a month of her next start.

The 4-year-old Unique Bella, who worked five furlongs in 1:01.60 at Santa Anita on Saturday, is expected to have her first start of the summer in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar on July 29. Unique Bella won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on June 2.

The five-furlong workout was Unique Bella’s third workout since the Beholder Mile, her eighth win in 11 starts for Don Alberto Stable.

Sun, 07/01/2018 - 19:23

Prat travels across the country to ride Bellafina in debut

Barbara D. Livingston
Flavien Prat rides favored Paradise Woods, one of the horses that helped him win the recently concluded Santa Anita winter/spring meet, in Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

CYPRESS, Calif. – The 2-year-old Bellafina is held in such high regard that jockey Flavien Prat is flying in from New York to ride the filly in her debut at Los Alamitos on Wednesday.

Prat, the leading rider at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, has no other mounts on Wednesday’s nine-race program.

Trained by Simon Callaghan for Kaleem Shah, Bellafina drew the rail in a maiden special weight race at five furlongs. The field of seven includes five other first-time starters.

Fri, 06/29/2018 - 15:16

Lullaby Bling earns try in Texas Thoroughbred Futurity

Mary Rampellini
Lullaby Bling brought $100,000 at the Texas Thoroughbred Association yearling auction in 2017.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Lullaby Bling has established himself as a leading contender for the $100,000 Texas Thoroughbred Futurity July 15 at Lone Star Park with an eye-catching debut win here last Saturday. He rolled by 6 1/4 lengths in the maiden special weight.

“He came out of the race very well,” trainer Danele Durham said. “The next step is the Futurity.”

The Texas Thoroughbred Futurity has two divisions, each at five furlongs. The races are part of the annual Stars of Texas Day card of four restricted stakes worth a total of $300,000.

Fri, 06/29/2018 - 15:00

Prairie Gold Juvenile likely next for The Gray Dehere

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Gray Dehere was a clear winner of a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds last Sunday at Lone Star Park, and trainer J.R. Caldwell said the colt is now on pace to test stakes company in the $65,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile on July 20 at Prairie Meadows.

Fri, 06/29/2018 - 13:46

McDaid gets first riding victory in SoCal afternoon action

CYPRESS, Calif. – Apprentice jockey Kellie McDaid, who rides regularly in evening Thoroughbred races at Los Alamitos, won her first race on the Southern California afternoon circuit when Swallows Inn Gal ($38.20) scored an upset in a maiden claimer at Los Alamitos on Thursday.

The victory was career win No. 34 for McDaid, 28. She has a seven-pound apprentice claim that will be reduced to five pounds after her 35th win.

“That means I can eat,” McDaid joked between races Thursday.

Fri, 06/29/2018 - 13:36

Tisbutadream leaves England to join Cecil's stable

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Ben Cecil

CYPRESS, Calif. – Tisbutadream, a minor stakes winner in England last year, has joined trainer Ben Cecil’s stable for the Del Mar summer meeting. The 4-year-old filly is owned by King Power Racing, the stable of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the owner of the Leicester City soccer team in the English Premier League.

Leicester City famously won the Premier League title in the 2015-16 season at odds as high as 5,000-1.

Fri, 06/29/2018 - 13:36

Franco to miss a week or two with strained knee

Shigeki Kikkawa
Jockey Geovanni Franco

CYPRESS, Calif. – Jockey Geovanni Franco will not ride the first two weeks of the Los Alamitos summer meeting while recovering from a strained knee, his agent, James Giannone said on Thursday.

Franco, 27, may ride the final week of the Los Alamitos meeting, beginning July 12, but is more likely to focus on the start of the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins July 18. Franco was second in the standings at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting that ended on June 24 with 28 wins.

“We’ve shut it down,” Giannone said. “I’m not going to hurry him.”

Fri, 06/29/2018 - 13:30

Meah going out on her own as trainer this fall

CYPRESS, Calif. – Anna Meah, an exercise rider and assistant trainer for Art Sherman and Richard Baltas for the last five years, plans to begin training this fall.

Meah and her husband, bloodstock agent David Meah, are hoping to establish a stable of 20 horses at Santa Anita following the Del Mar summer meeting.

“This has been our plan for the last three years,” Anna Meah said. “Now is the time to do it.

“We are aiming for Nov. 1 to be set up and on the track. We’ve got a foundation of clients. We expect to increase the numbers, maybe by the spring.”