CYPRESS, Calif. – Carlos Huerta, the second-leading Quarter Horse jockey at Los Alamitos, suffered three broken vertebrae in a spill after the eighth race Friday evening and will miss mounts in two lucrative races this weekend.
Huerta was unseated after the filly Blabber fell after the Paul Ford Memorial Handicap. Blabber was not injured. Huerta was transported to Long Beach Memorial hospital.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The man entrusted with guiding California Chrome through his daily exercise knows his way around Los Alamitos.
Dihigi Gladney, 40, made a career of riding lower-level Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos from 1995 until his retirement in 2012. He rode winners at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and Santa Anita, but most of his 318 career victories were at Los Al.
Cliff Berry has been a longtime kingpin in the Southwest riding ranks, winning more than 20 titles among tracks in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Berry will call it a career on Sunday after he rides Better Than Magic in the $250,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Edgard Zayas and Tyler Gaffalione, who finished first and third in the jockey standings at the recently concluded Gulfstream Park West meet, returned to action Friday, less than 48 hours after being injured in separate incidents Wednesday.
Zayas was sent to the hospital complaining of a headache after being unseated from his mount, Summer Chant, prior to the fourth race. Gaffalione fell heavily after his mount, Sweet Summer Sweat, stumbled badly leaving the gate in the following event.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Speechify and Singanothersong won the last two editions of the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, and they were among 18 horses nominated to the six-furlong dash here Saturday on a card that also includes the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby and $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Weather permitting – and that has been the big issue here during opening week of the meet – Ready Dancer finally will get the opportunity to run on the turf when he goes postward the likely favorite in Sunday’s $41,000 allowance feature.
Tommy Macho, the Grade 3 Discovery winner, will likely have five rivals next Saturday at Aqueduct when he runs in the $100,000 Queens County Stakes at 1 1/8 miles.
Expected to face Tommy Macho are Desvelo, Kid Cruz, Perfect Title, and Turco Bravo. Financial Modeling is listed as possible.
Kid Cruz, winner of the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes in 2014, is coming off a second-place finish in the Swatara Stakes at Penn National.
Michael Pino is one of the few new faces on the backstretch this winter, and he is hoping to make enough of an impact during the Aqueduct inner-track meet to warrant keeping a string in New York on a year-round basis.
“I’ve said it for years: I want to try it and the winter seemed like a good time to do it,” Pino said Friday at Belmont Park, where he is stabled in Barn 6.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Winter time is the right time for an apprentice rider with talent to succeed in New York.
So far, it looks like Harry Hernandez fits that bill. Since coming to New York three weeks ago, Hernandez had won six races from 35 mounts entering Friday’s card. Three of those wins have come for David Jacobson, who should compete for leading trainer honors at the meet.
“He’s got a lot more experience than most five-pound bug riders,” Jacobson said. “He really has done a great job. He’s not making too many mistakes.”
Nyquist, the undefeated winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Oct. 31, resumed galloping earlier this week and will have a workout before the end of the month.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said Nyquist is likely to have a light workout “down the stretch” at Santa Anita in the days before Christmas. Owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam, Nyquist was given a break in November after the BC Juvenile and resumed training earlier this month.
