Freshly crowned Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna got a little more serious prepping for her eagerly awaited 4-year-old debut, working four furlongs in 47.18 seconds shortly after the renovation break here Friday.
Going in company with her Grade 2-placed stablemate Common Defense, Thorpedo Anna posted a 23.06 opening quarter split and galloped out five-eighths in 1:00.59, holding a slight edge to the wire while going along very easily throughout.
The Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif., will cease operating as a training center on March 25, according to a statement issued Thursday by the California Authority of Racing Fairs, a decision that Southern California racing officials said will lead to higher purses on that circuit in the near future.
Jockey Kazushi Kimura was scheduled to undergo outpatient surgery in Southern California on Thursday to stabilize a leg injury sustained in a starting gate incident at Santa Anita on Jan. 16.
Kimura’s agent, Brian Beach, said on Wednesday that the recovery time is expected to be 30 to 45 days.
“He has a lower leg fracture that needs to be addressed,” Beach said. “It’s something the doctor said would heal faster if they put a screw in it. It would be the better option.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has opened a library in the stable area for backstretch employees, dedicating the space in memory of Eddie Truman, a retired trainer who died in December.
The Eddie Truman Library will be based in a backstretch recreation center and will include books donated by Truman. The library will include titles in English and Spanish and feature educational materials as well as works of fiction and non-fiction, according to a statement released last weekend by Santa Anita.
Mrs. Astor, the winner of consecutive Grade 3 stakes at Del Mar and Santa Anita in the final months of 2024, will have her 2025 debut in another Grade 3, the $100,000 Santa Ana Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on March 15.
Trainer Jonathan Thomas said on Thursday that the Santa Ana will be a prep race for a start at the Keeneland April meeting for the 4-year-old Mrs. Astor, who is owned by George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has canceled racing on Thursday and moved the program as drawn to Monday due to a forecast for severe weather, according to a text notice from the track. The area was under a flood watch Wednesday afternoon, with rains in the forecast through the night and into Thursday.
Oaklawn also canceled training on Thursday.
The card Thursday was a makeup card because a snowstorm cost Oaklawn a weekend of racing in early January.
Racing is scheduled to resume Friday.
Jaxon Traveler, who has won his last four starts in a streak that includes a pair of stakes in New Mexico, is set to return to the Land of Enchantment for his next race, according to Midwest-based trainer Steve Asmussen.
Asmussen said Jaxon Traveler is being pointed for the $100,000 Bill Thomas Memorial on Feb. 16. Jaxon Traveler won the race last year. It is on the undercard of the Sunland Derby.
The Wine Steward and Sugoi gave trainer Mike Maker a memorable afternoon in the Southwest region last Saturday, with the horses accounting for stakes on marquee cards at Oaklawn Park and Sam Houston Race Park.
The Wine Steward captured the $150,000 Fifth Season at Oaklawn, on the undercard of the Southwest Stakes. He was making his first start since last year’s Belmont Stakes and raced with the pace throughout in a powerful effort off the bench. The Wine Steward won by a neck and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 96.
For the third time in less than two months, apprentice jockey Manny Americano will have a new base of operation.
Americano rode the autumn meeting at Pleasanton in Northern California, which ended on Dec. 18. When a winter-spring meeting was canceled at Pleasanton because of poor business, Americano moved permanently to Turf Paradise in Phoenix.
This weekend, Americano is relocating to Santa Anita in Southern California, and is booked on three mounts on Sunday. He will be represented by Brian Beach.
Bullard, a graded stakes winner at Del Mar in November who finished a well-beaten third in his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs on Jan. 4, is likely bound for the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 22 for his first start around two turns.
The $1.25 million Rebel Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles. Bullard was galloped at Santa Anita on Wednesday, trainer Michael McCarthy said.
The Rebel “is a possibility,” McCarthy said.
