NEW ORLEANS – Finley’sluckycharm, among the top older female sprinters during 2017, when she won three graded stakes, had her first work of the winter when she went an easy three furlongs in 38 seconds Sunday.
Finley’sluckycharm ended last year’s campaign with a below-form Breeders’ Cup showing, finishing ninth in the Filly and Mare Sprint, but trainer Bret Calhoun is pointing her to the 2018 Filly and Mare Sprint, which will be run over a Churchill Downs surface Finley’sluckycharm loves.
NEW ORLEANS – The Silverbulletday Stakes here Saturday includes some talented 3-year-old fillies, but another Fair Grounds-based horse in the division, Monomoy Girl, probably is as talented as any of them.
A Tapizar filly trained by Brad Cox, Monomoy Girl won her first three starts last year, including a 6 1/2-length victory in the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill, but might have run her best race in her lone loss at 2, finishing second by a neck to Road to Victory in the Grade 2 Golden Rod on Nov. 25 at Churchill.
NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Buff Bradley’s first meet-long foray since the early 1990s into Fair Grounds racing has not gotten off to a roaring start, but Bradley has horses of note to run on Saturday’s Road to the Derby Kickoff card.
Chief among them is The Player, the talented 5-year-old who could well be favored in the $75,000 Louisiana, the last of six stakes on a card headlined by the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte for 3-year-olds.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – My Boy Tate, winner of three consecutive races, will make his stakes debut in Saturday’s inaugural $100,000 Say Florida Sandy Stakes for New York-bred male sprinters at seven furlongs.
A gelding by Boys At Tosconova, My Boy Tate has won his last three starts by a combined 20 3/4 lengths, topped by a 9 1/4-length second-level allowance score Dec. 9 going seven furlongs. Following an Aug. 13 maiden win at Saratoga, My Boy Tate kicked a stall wall and bruised a foot. In his last two races, he’s earned Beyer Speed Figures of 93 and 95.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Alex the Terror, a hard-hitting 6-year-old son of Mineshaft, sustained a fractured sesamoid in his left foreleg during a routine gallop Tuesday morning at Belmont Park and had to be euthanized, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Wednesday.
Pletcher had claimed Alex the Terror for $62,500 for owner Mike Repole on Sept. 30. In two subsequent starts, Alex the Terror won a second-level allowance by four lengths and finished second, beaten a neck, in the $125,000 Queens County Stakes.
“That was a tough blow,” Pletcher said of the fatal injury.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Audible, who likely would have been favored for Monday’s $100,000 Damon Runyon Stakes, has left town, is now in south Florida, and will likely be pointed to an open-company race early in February, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Mourinho was among a planeload of 17 horses that arrived Wednesday in Arkansas from California, according to Oaklawn spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt. He is expected for the $150,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds on Monday.
Hoyt said the flight also included Sonneteer, entered in the Fifth Season on Friday, as well as eight horses for trainer Peter Miller, five for trainer Tom Van Berg, and two for trainer Doug O’Neill.
Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said the Smarty Jones also could draw Arched Feather, Bode’s Maker, Cat Daddy, and Combatant.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Gary Stevens is riding the Oaklawn meet on a daily basis for the first time after long being based in Southern California, and the move could lead to a change in circuits for the Hall of Famer. He said Tuesday he will make decisions on his future plans based on how things go in Arkansas.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has a “sporting chance” to make a significant impact during the 3-year-old series at the Oaklawn Park meet, which opens Friday. The 82-year-old’s barn houses the most accomplished young runner on the grounds in Sporting Chance, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful in September at Saratoga.
