Fri, 02/26/2016 - 13:30

Penwith headed west for Santa Margarita

Kenny Martin/Coglianese Photos
Penwith will make her next start in the $500,000 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita on March 19.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Penwith, the winner of the Grade 2 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park in her last start Feb. 13, is scheduled to head to California to try to annex the first Grade 1 of her career.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Penwith will go to Santa Anita for the $500,000 Santa Margarita Stakes on March 19.

“She’s got a Grade 2, so another Grade 2 doesn’t do her any good. She needs to run in a Grade 1,” McLaughlin said.

On Friday, Penwith had her first work since the Royal Delta, a half-mile at the Palm Meadows training center in 49 seconds.

Fri, 02/26/2016 - 12:30

Distant Kingdom might have edge in rematch

NEW ORLEANS – The Sunday feature, a six-furlong, second-level optional-claiming race for 4-year-olds and up, appears to be wide open. A morning line with odds ranging from 7-2 to 5-1 for all seven runners backs up the point. The race is the fifth on a nine-race card.

Distant Kingdom, a Wes Hawley trainee who lost by a head to Doc Almon at the same level and distance Feb. 6, might be able to get the job done this time.

Fri, 02/26/2016 - 12:30

Jensen runs way into Louisiana Derby consideration

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Larry Jones said the Louisiana Derby is among several options for Jensen, who dominated first-level allowance rivals here in a 6 3/4-length victory Thursday at a mile and 70 yards. The race had an optional claiming condition, but all seven 3-year-olds were entered under the allowance condition.

“We’ve sure got it in our sights, anyway,’’ Jones said of the March 26 Louisiana Derby.

He and his wife, Cindy, bred and own Jensen, a son of Haynesfield and the Hard Spun mare Spun Lake. Jensen, who led all the way, won for the second time in four starts.

Fri, 02/26/2016 - 12:26

It's all coming together for Stidham

Amanda Hodges Weir/Hodges Photography
Trained by Mike Stidham, Jockamo's Song (right) won the Louisiana Champions Day Sprint.

NEW ORLEANS – The consistency of Mike Stidham, who leads the trainers’ race this season at Fair Grounds, stands out.

Stidham, who typically finishes in the top 10 in the local standings, for years has maintained a solid ranking nationally in both trainer purse earnings and victories.

In each of the last 12 years, for example, Stidham was among the top 100 trainers in earnings. Five times in the last six years, he ranked in the top 50. And in 10 of the last 12 years, he was in the top 100 trainers in wins.

Fri, 02/26/2016 - 10:30

Ward focusing his efforts in Kentucky this winter

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Wesley Ward has won a combined 16 of 30 starts at the Turfway Park holiday meet and current winter-spring meet.

The lack of prominence from the Wesley Ward stable at Gulfstream Park this winter might be conspicuous – if not downright alarming – until you consider what’s behind it.

Ward had just one measly win and eight seconds from his first 24 starts at the nearly 3-month-old championship meet at Gulfstream in south Florida. It’s a stark departure from the status quo: Ward was in the Gulfstream top 10 in each of the last three years when averaging almost 22 wins a meet.

Fri, 02/26/2016 - 08:06

Golden Gate: Frey returns, wins two; Baze wins four

Jockey Kyle Frey, originally diagnosed with a fractured leg and arm after a spill Saturday, scored a pair of victories on Thursday’s seven-race card at Golden Gate Fields.

Frey won with No Ez Money ($3.80) in the first race and won the seventh Post Rock ($4.60).

Leading rider Russell Baze won four straight races with Worldly Vision ($3) in the second race, Warrens Lil Margie ($6.60) in the third, Staud’s Swish ($10.20) in the fourth, and Lizzy Marini ($3.60) in the fifth.

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 15:48

Quijote will stick to sprinting in Jimmy Winkfield Stakes

The connections of Quijote will resist the temptation of stretching the two-time-winning sprinter out in distance and will ship the 3-year-old gelding from Louisiana to New York for the $125,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct on March 6.

“I talked with Rich Papiese of Midwest Thoroughbreds, and we decided to keep him sprinting,” trainer Tom Amoss said Thursday. “Things open up in April, but they really didn’t right now.”

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 15:45

Pangburn will come back quickly for Heavenly Prize Invitational

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Three weeks after winning the Maryland Racing Media Stakes, Pangburn will run in the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational.

Pangburn, the winner of the Maryland Racing Media Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 13, is expected to wheel back in three weeks and run in the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational for fillies and mares on the March 5 card at Aqueduct.

“She came out of the Laurel race well, and I think we’ll do that,” trainer Tony Dutrow said Thursday from Oaklawn.

The Heavenly Prize, formerly known as the Cat Cay, is run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns. Pangburn won the Maryland Racing Media and was beaten just a nose in last year’s Iowa Oaks under the same conditions.

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 15:40

Conquest Big E heading north for Gotham Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Conquest Big E will ship from Florida for the Grade 3 Gotham on March 5.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse said Conquest Big E can’t stand the heat, so he plans to get him out of south Florida.

Casse said Thursday that Conquest Big E likely will make his next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 5. The horse was scheduled to breeze Friday morning at Palm Meadows in south Florida, and provided all goes well, he will ship here Tuesday.

“I got to keep him out of the heat,” Casse said. “That limits my options.”

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 12:46

Plenty of options for Street Fancy

Benoit & Associates
Street Fancy wound up with trainer Phil D'Amato after bidding at the Barretts Select sale failed to meet her reserve price of $419,000.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Street Fancy, who won the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos in December, is being considered for races at Fair Grounds, Oaklawn Park, and Santa Anita, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

The $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on March 5 is the local option, but D’Amato is not keen on possibly facing Songbird, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2015.