Thu, 01/21/2016 - 13:36

Stellar Wind resumes light training

Nikki Sherman
Stellar Wind probably will not make her first start of the season until April or May.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, has resumed training with John Sadler at Santa Anita for a 2016 campaign designed to begin in the spring and include the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

Owned by Kosta and Pete Hronis, Stellar Wind has won 5 of 8 starts and earned $913,200. She was acquired privately in early 2015 and won four stakes through the season, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. Stellar Wind finished second, a neck behind Stopchargingmaria, in the BC Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 30.

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 08:50

Emerald stakes slate topped by Grade 3 Longacres Mile

AUBURN, Wash. – Emerald Downs unveiled its 2016 stakes schedule this week, a slate of 28 added-money events worth $1.62 million in purses and headlined by the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 14.

The Emerald Downs stakes program includes five races for older horses, five for fillies and mares, five for 3-year-olds, five for 3-year-old fillies, and seven for 2-year-olds, in addition to the $55,000 Bank of America Emerald Downs Championship Challenge for Quarter Horses.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 17:24

Ishaq to miss four months with chip in knee

SV Photography
Ishaq will make his first stakes start in Saturday's $100,000 Inaugural Stakes at six furlongs at Tampa Bay.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Ishaq, the undefeated winner of the $67,500 Inaugural Stakes last month at Tampa Bay Downs, will need surgery to remove a small chip from his knee and will miss about four months of training, according to trainer Efren Loza Jr.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 16:19

String King will target Fair Grounds Handicap

Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography
String King will point to the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap on Feb. 20.

A disappointed Charlie Smith drove back to northwest Louisiana last weekend but left the star of his two-horse stable, String King, at Fair Grounds with trainer Kenny Hargrave. String King finished fifth last weekend in the Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap, a race he won in 2015, and Smith felt String King never had a chance in the race.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 15:56

Nickname sharpens for season debut in Oaklawn's Martha Washington

Nikki Sherman
Nickname. trained by Steve Asmussen, is pointing to the Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn on Feb. 5.

Two of trainer Steve Asmussen’s top 3-year-olds, the filly Nickname and the colt Gun Runner, are approaching their first races of the year.

On Wednesday morning at Fair Grounds, Nickname worked five furlongs in company with Wrath of Ruthie in 1:00.80. Nickname will make her 2016 debut Feb. 5 at Oaklawn Park in the Martha Washington Stakes.

“She worked beautifully this morning,” Asmussen said.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 15:36

Discreetness, Gordy Florida likely to meet again in Southwest

Coady Photography/Oaklawn Park
Jon Court celebrates aboard Discreetness after winning the Smarty Jones on Monday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The rematch is on.

Discreetness and Gordy Florida, who finished a neck apart in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Monday at Oaklawn Park, are both being pointed for next month’s Southwest Stakes, according to their trainers. The Grade 3, $500,000 race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles is Feb. 15.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 14:06

Infection forces Sunday Rules out of Santa Monica

Benoit & Associates
Sunday Rules and jockey Mike Smith win the Kalookan Queen Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths on Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sunday Rules, the winner of the Kalookan Queen Stakes on Dec. 30, will miss Saturday’s $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita after a bout with a bacterial infection this week, trainer Phil D’Amato said on Wednesday.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 14:00

Bejarano riding big race in Saudi Arabia

Benoit & Associates
Top Southern California rider Rafael Bejarano is shown aboard Forever Darling.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Rafael Bejarano will miss three days of racing at Santa Anita this week to ride in Saudi Arabia on Friday and Saturday.

Bejarano is second in the Santa Anita rider standings behind Santiago Gonzalez. Through Monday, Gonzalez had 19 wins, three more than Bejarano. Bejarano has won the riding title at the last three Santa Anita winter-spring meetings.

This weekend, Bejarano is booked to ride in the King’s Cup, the biggest race of the year in Saudi Arabia, according to his agent, Tora Yamaguchi.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 13:56

California Chrome takes edge off before trip to Dubai

Barbara D. Livingston
California Chrome will travel to Dubai next week.

CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome had his final day of exercise at Los Alamitos on Wednesday before being flown Thursday to the United Arab Emirates for a scheduled two-race campaign highlighted by a start in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 26.

Judging from California Chrome’s enthusiasm during a two-mile exercise Wednesday, the 5-year-old is leaving his home state in top form.

“He’s been a handful, bucking and playing,” trainer Art Sherman said. “He’s really been feeling good.”

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 12:06

Monmouth offers tournament with a twist

Monmouth Park will host its biggest handicapping tournament ever on June 4.

The top 15 finishers of the tournament will get to select their prizes. Based on 100 entrants, nine seats at the 2017 DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship, two seats at the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and $50,000 in cash will be up for grabs.