HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – All-sources handle at Gulfstream Park continues to show steady gains as the evolution of the south Florida racing circuit shifts into greater permanence.
Daily handle for July at Gulfstream averaged more than $5.7 million, an increase of 10 percent from the comparable period in 2014. That’s the third-highest handle figure in North American racing for this time of year, behind only Saratoga and Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Veteran jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who has not ridden in any capacity since January 2014, can return to the saddle soon.
On Thursday, the California Horse Racing Board announced that the 52-year-old Valenzuela has been granted an exercise rider’s license in a stipulated agreement between the two parties. He will not be eligible to ride races through the term of his current license, through Oct. 31, the racing board said.
AUBURN, Wash. – Before he became a sensation as the nation’s leading apprentice, and long before he became a trainer with the audacity to beat the Europeans on their own turf, Wesley Ward was a scrappy kid in small-town Washington with outsized dreams and a smile that could light up a room. On Saturday night at Emerald Downs, Northwestern horsemen will salute a native son when Ward is inducted into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ocean Knight, sidelined since a seventh-place finish March 7 in the Tampa Bay Derby, returns to the races Saturday in a second-level allowance race at seven furlongs at Saratoga.
Among those he will face is Havana, the winner of the Grade 1 Champagne in 2013.
Ocean Knight won the first two starts of his career, including the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis, before running an inexplicably poor race in Tampa. He was kept in training and had been under consideration for the Wood Memorial before being sent to the farm for a break.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – For the second time this year, Palace Malice is on the comeback trail.
Palace Malice, the 2013 Belmont Stakes and 2014 Metropolitan Handicap winner, makes his second start of the year Sunday in the $100,000 Alydar Stakes, and if his connections thought they were landing in a soft spot, they were mistaken.
Palace Malice meets 11 rivals in the Alydar, including stablemate Mylute; Golden Ticket, the dead-heat co-winner of the 2013 Travers; and the in-form Matrooh in the 1 1/8-mile race.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gimme Da Lute might be bound for Pennsylvania after winning his fourth stakes of the year in the $200,000 Real Good Deal Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds last Sunday.
Trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday that Gimme Da Lute is a candidate for the $1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 19.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mrazek won his first stakes in Wednesday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes for California-breds at Del Mar, and his late-summer plans will not be finalized until this weekend at the earliest.
Owners Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill are running Nyquist in Saturday’s $200,000 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs. If Nyquist runs well, he will be pointed to the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7. If he runs poorly, Mrazek could be a candidate for the Del Mar Futurity.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Arranmore Girl, a 2-year-old filly who won a minor race in England in April, was euthanized after sustaining an injury in a workout at Del Mar on Thursday, track officials said.
The filly’s exercise rider, Fernando Aguilar, was taken to a local hospital for treatment, according to track officials.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A victory by Tara’s Tango in an optional claimer at Del Mar on Wednesday will lead to a seven-figure stakes race in Pennsylvania next month.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Thursday that Tara’s Tango is likely to make her next start in the $1 million Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Parx Racing on Sept. 19.
“We’re going to look at the Cotillion,” Hollendorfer said. “It’s a big purse, and we think she’s deserves to try something like that.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Regardless of whether Triple Crown winner American Pharoah runs, attendance for the Travers Stakes on Aug. 29 at Saratoga will be capped at 50,000, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
In reaction to bad publicity over logistical problems at the 2014 Belmont Stakes, NYRA implemented an attendance cap of 90,000 for the Belmont Stakes, and officials were happy with the results.
