HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Keen Ice and Itsaknockout are the biggest names Gulfstream Park racing officials are expecting for the Grade 1 Donn Handicap, which is one of six stakes to be run here next Saturday, Feb. 6.
Keen Ice, the only horse to defeat American Pharoah last year, was scheduled to have his final pre-race breeze this weekend at Gulfstream in preparing for the $500,000 Donn.
ARCADIA, Calif. – John F Kennedy, a Galileo colt who at one time was the future-book favorite for the 2015 English Derby, has joined trainer Paulo Lobo’s stable at Santa Anita for an expected campaign this summer.
Last month, John F Kennedy was sold as a stallion prospect by Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Flaxman Stables to a South American group which included Nicolas Ojea Quintana of Argentina, Lobo said. A 4-year-old, John F Kennedy has been in training with Lobo for a month.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Donworth will face the toughest test of his career in his first start for Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill in the $500,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita next Saturday.
A 4-year-old colt by Tiznow, Donworth was purchased for $550,000 by the Reddams at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, and has been with O’Neill since last fall.
“I think we have a nice horse for the handicap division,” O’Neill said on Friday.
Three new marathon races that New York Racing Association officials hope could fill a void on the national calendar have been added to the Belmont Park spring-summer stakes program for 2016.
The races are the $200,000 Belmont Coronation Invitational, for fillies and mares at 1 15/16 miles on turf June 9; the $150,000 Rags to Riches Invitational, for fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles on dirt June 10; and the $100,000 Flat Out, for 4-year-olds and up at 1 3/8 miles on dirt May 15.
NEW ORLEANS – For the first time, Louisiana trainer Keith Bourgeois has a winter base at Fair Grounds, and he’s on pace for one of his most successful meets here.
“I like it here, not just because I’m having a good meet,” said Bourgeois, 53, who lives in Lafayette, La., and until this season would send his runners by van to New Orleans.
Through Thursday’s races, Bourgeois had won with 13 of 42 starters (31 percent) and ranked sixth in the trainer standings. His in-the-money rate was 55 percent.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s Natalma Stakes has been upgraded to Grade 1 status for the 2016 season by The Jockey Club of Canada.
The Natalma, a one-turn mile on the turf for 2-year old fillies, produced Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Catch a Glimpse in 2015. Other notable runners in recent editions of the Natalma include Grade 1 winners Stephanie’s Kitten, Dayatthespa, Hard Not to Like, Kitten’s Dumplings, and Spring in the Air, along with multiple graded stakes winner Don’t Leave Me.
Untapable, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2014, had the first timed workout of her 5-year-old season when she went an easy half-mile in 52 seconds Thursday at Fair Grounds.
“She went nice,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Untapable for Winchell Thoroughbreds.
Untapable won the Grade 1 Apple Blossom last year and never finished worse than third in a campaign that would have been a raging success for most horses. But Untapable never fully displayed the brilliance she showed at 3, and it will be interesting to see if she’s regained her spark this year at 5.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With Alto Belle, trainer Todd Pletcher already had the horse to beat in the $100,000 Busanda Stakes. But now the seven-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer will double down by adding Lost Raven to the mix in Sunday’s mile-and-70-yard race for 3-year-old fillies.
The Busanda was postponed from last Saturday when the card was lost to a blizzard. Originally drawn with seven, the Busanda was redrawn with nine, with Lost Raven and Invite the newcomers to the field.
Lost Raven just ran Jan. 16 in the Marshua Stakes at Laurel, finishing second to Karen’s Silk.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York-bred maiden winner Cards of Stone will scratch out of Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers after a majority interest in the gelding by Bustin Stones was sold Thursday.
Highclere America, which is a partnership managed by Rebecca Weisbord, and Adam Wachtel combined to buy a 75 percent interest in Cards of Stone from Linda McConnell and Jerry Bilinksi. The gelding will be moved from trainer James Bond to Todd Pletcher.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Toboggan, take 3.
The weather looks clear for Saturday, which means the New York Racing Association will finally be able to run the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes, a six-furlong race twice postponed by inclement weather. The Toboggan was originally scheduled for Jan. 18, but that card was canceled due to excessive winds. Rescheduled for last Sunday, the Toboggan and the rest of the card was lost to a blizzard.
