Sun, 03/13/2016 - 15:00

Danzing Candy, Mor Spirit will meet again in Santa Anita Derby

Shigeki Kikkawa
San Felipe winner Danzing Candy and runner-up Mor Spirit will both point to the Santa Anita Derby on April 9.

Danzing Candy and Mor Spirit, who finished one-two in the Grade 2 San Felipe on Saturday, are likely to meet again April 9 in the Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby, the final local prep for the Kentucky Derby on May 7.

Danzing Candy scored a two-length victory over Mor Spirit while earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 100. It was his third straight win, all at this meet, all with Mike Smith aboard.

Sun, 03/13/2016 - 11:54

Salutos Amigos will skip Golden Shaheen to await Carter

Joe Labozzetta/NYRA
Salutos Amigos goes from last of 11 to first under Cornelio Velasquez in the Tom Fool Handicap.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The logistics of getting Salutos Amigos to Dubai for the $2 million Golden Shaheen on March 26 turned out to be more difficult than trainer David Jacobson had hoped so the 6-year-old gelding instead will make his next start in the Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 9.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 20:21

Santa Anita cancels last three races Friday after downpour

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita canceled the final three races on Friday’s nine-race program after jockeys complained of excessive water on the backstretch following two hours of rain through the early afternoon.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 16:32

Louisiana Downs cancels racing through Wednesday

Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, which is conducting a meet for Quarter Horses, has called off racing from Saturday through Wednesday due to extensive flooding in the area, said Trent McIntosh, the track’s director of operations. McIntosh said an ontrack casino was closed down at 1 p.m. Central on Friday.

Louisiana Downs began evacuating horses Thursday night and had less than 100 head left to move as of midafternoon Friday, according to McIntosh. Louisiana Downs is scheduled to race through March 24.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 15:52

Flora Dora fires bullet for Gazelle

Susie Raisher/NYRA
Flora Dora, shown winning the Busanda, worked a half-mile in 47.66 seconds Friday at Belmont Park.

Flora Dora, the winner of the Busher Stakes but fourth in the Busanda, worked a half-mile in 47.66 seconds Friday over the Belmont Park training track. It was the fastest of 47 works at the distance.

Flora Dora is targeting the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle Stakes over Aqueduct’s main track April 9.

“We’re on track,” said trainer Marialice Coffey. “Everything is on go.”

Coffey said she is eager to get Flora Dora off the inner track. She said Flora Dora got cut up on her left hind leg in the Busher.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 15:36

Gabriel Saez gets comfortable in New York

Barbara D. Livingston
Gabriel Saez ranks eighth in the jockey standings this winter with 19 winners.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Gabriel Saez has bounced around from circuit to circuit throughout his career. In some respects, it has paid off. He has ridden a champion in Proud Spell and a Kentucky Derby favorite in Friesan Fire.

But Saez, 28, would like to settle down on the New York Racing Association circuit. He hopes he has taken a step in that direction with the winter meet he has had at Aqueduct. Through Thursday, Saez has ridden 19 winners, putting him in a tie for eighth in the inner-track standings. His 167 mounts are the second-fewest for any rider in the top 10.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 15:06

Surface switch for feature would benefit Magnificent Margo

Jack Coady/Coady Photography
Jessica's Star is under consideration for the March 26 New Orleans Handicap.

Provided the track hasn’t washed away, Fair Grounds will host an 11-race card Monday, the final Monday program of the 2015-16 race meeting.

New Orleans was spared the brunt of the early portion of a massive rain event streaming north into Louisiana and neighboring states from the Gulf of Mexico starting Thursday, but close to two inches of rain fell overnight Thursday into Friday, and if the forecast holds, up to another six inches could fall before the system moves out of the area Saturday night.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 14:31

Upstart coming from Florida for Razorback Handicap

Barbara D. Livingston
Upstart will make his first start since September in next Saturday's Razorback Handicap.

Upstart, the winner of last year’s Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, is scheduled to ship in to Oaklawn Park for the Grade 3, $350,000 Razorback Handicap next Saturday,  Elliott Walden said of the horse co-owned by WinStar.  Rick Violette trains Upstart. The horse will be ridden by Joe Bravo.

“Rick is very happy with him, said he’s training well, and we thought it was a good place to go two turns first race back,” said Walden.

 Upstart will be making his first start since September, when he was fifth in the Pennsylvania Derby.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 14:30

Cupid rerouted to Oaklawn's Rebel Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Beholder worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds Friday morning at Santa Anita. Her first race of the season will come June 4 in the Vanity.

Cupid, a stylish maiden-race winner Feb. 7 in his third start, worked six furlongs in 1:11.60 on Friday at Santa Anita.

Cupid was entered in Saturday’s $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, but trainer Bob Baffert said Cupid would be withdrawn in favor of a likely start in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 19.

There were 243 recorded works Friday in advance of an expected rainstorm later in the day.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 14:30

Stevens, Prat will ride at Keeneland

Benoit & Associates
Gary Stevens plans to ride in Kentucky from mid-April through Kentucky Derby Day, May 7.

Jockeys Flavien Prat and Gary Stevens, who have combined to win 11 stakes at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, will ride the majority of April at Keeneland.

Stevens, who leads all jockeys with seven stakes wins at this meeting, said on Friday that he will ride at Santa Anita through the end of the meeting April 10 and be based in Kentucky through Kentucky Derby Day, May 7.

Stevens will miss the three-week spring meeting at Los Alamitos from April 14 to May 1. The Keeneland meeting runs April 8-29. Churchill Downs opens its spring-summer meeting April 30.