Thu, 02/15/2018 - 15:10

Rice suspended, fined for scratching two horses

Barbara D. Livingston
Linda Rice went 9 for 16 over a 10-day span.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice will serve a five-day suspension and must pay $2,500 in fines for scratching two horses out of the first race Jan. 27 at Aqueduct.

Thu, 02/15/2018 - 14:26

Maldonado finds grass is greener in California

Shigeki Kikkawa
Edwin Maldonado notched his first win since August on Sunday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Edwin Maldonado has returned to Southern California after riding the first month of the Oaklawn Park meeting in Arkansas.

On Saturday, Maldonado has one mount on a 10-race program – Sandbed in the sixth race, a maiden claimer for sprinters. He had one mount on Friday’s eight-race program.

“It will take time to get things going,” he said Thursday.

At Oaklawn Park, Maldonado had a respectable record of seven wins from 51 mounts, but he said he sought a return to California.

Thu, 02/15/2018 - 14:26

Paradise Woods targets Santa Monica Stakes

Shigeki Kikkawa
Paradise Woods (No. 7) finishes second to Unique Bella in the Grade 1 La Brea.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Paradise Woods, a two-time Grade 1 winner who has been sidelined by illness and minor injuries in recent months, is likely to start in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes on March 24.

On Tuesday, Paradise Woods worked three furlongs in 36.20 seconds, her first workout since Dec. 20. Paradise Woods was second in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Dec. 26.

Paradise Woods was taken out of training briefly in January because of illness and later missed a few days of training because of an abscess detected in a foot.

Thu, 02/15/2018 - 14:20

Trainer Falcone finding success in California

ARCADIA, Calif. – In his brief career, trainer Robert Falcone Jr. has found a home at Santa Anita.

Falcone trained Mind Your Biscuits, who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November 2016 and was later promoted to second when a rival was disqualified for a medication violation. A month later, Mind Your Biscuits won the Malibu Stakes to give Falcone his first Grade 1 win. Following the Malibu, Mind Your Biscuits was transferred to trainer Chad Summers.

Wed, 02/14/2018 - 17:35

Oaklawn purse increases go into effect Saturday

Oaklawn has announced a $3,000 purse increase for all allowance and maiden special weight races, beginning Saturday. In addition, all races with a claiming price of $30,000 or more will receive a purse increase of $2,000.

The move brings the value of maiden special weights to $78,000, while allowances will now range in value from $79,000 to $83,000. Oaklawn, which has an ontrack gaming center, races through April 14.

Wed, 02/14/2018 - 15:26

Barbara Fritchie draws deep field

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Saturday's Barbara Fritchie Stakes has been a long-term goal for Ms Locust Point.

A deep field of fillies and mares was entered Wednesday for the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie, the premier race of the Laurel Park winter meet, which will close out the six-stakes Winter Carnival program Saturday.

The undercard includes the Grade 3, $250,000 General George and four $100,000 stakes.

Manny Franco, Kendrick Carmouche, and Dylan Davis, the top three jockeys at Aqueduct, are named to ride on the card. Franco has mounts in five of the stakes, and Carmouche will ride in four of them.

Wed, 02/14/2018 - 15:20

For jockey Geroux, a winter of highs and lows

Susie Raisher
Jockey Florent Geroux celebrates aboard Gun Runner after the pair won the Breeders' Cup Classic last November.

NEW ORLEANS – It’s winter in New Orleans, and the French expatriate Florent Geroux should be right at home in America’s most French city. This is Geroux’s fifth Fair Grounds meet. He was the leading rider here the last two. Yet this is a season of change for Geroux.

Wed, 02/14/2018 - 15:16

Winter no wonderland for NYRA

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite its recent struggles to fill races and the downturn in handle that coincides with short fields, the New York Racing Association is committed to maintaining a winter racing program.

“Our intention is to have winter racing,” Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior director of racing operations, said in a recent interview.

Wed, 02/14/2018 - 15:16

New York shippers look tough in General George

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Great Stuff comes into the General George Stakes off a win in the Grade 3 Toboggan.

The likely favorites in the 10-horse General George Stakes, carded as race 9 on Saturday at Laurel Park, are Great Stuff and Do Share, both of whom exit Aqueduct stakes victories.

Do Share rallied from off the pace in his last start to win the six-furlong Gravesend on Dec. 23 for trainer Linda Rice. Do Share has since missed two races – the Fire Plug and Toboggan – because of an equine herpesvirus quarantine in his Belmont Park barn.

Wed, 02/14/2018 - 14:50

Joe Bravo thriving in Fair Grounds colony

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Jockey Joe Bravo had 32 wins from just 111 mounts through Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds, a 29 percent strike rate.

NEW ORLEANS – Jersey Joe Bravo is having a good go of things in the Big Easy.

Thirteen times the leading rider at Monmouth Park, Bravo is based for the first time at Fair Grounds, and, excepting a New Orleans winter’s damp chill that caught him off guard, Bravo has been thriving. After the Feb. 13 card, Bravo stood sixth in the jockey standings with 32 wins, a total he’s amassed from just 111 mounts. Bravo’s 29 percent strike rate tops the meet among jockeys with more than one mount.