HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ninfa del Cielo, a champion and Group 1-winning filly in Venezuela, is looking to make her North American debut this weekend.
Through a translator, trainer Oscar Gonzalez said Tuesday he is hoping a race will fill Saturday or Sunday for Ninfa del Cielo, a winner in eight of 10 starts. The 4-year-old filly will be ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, the all-time winningest jockey in Venezuela.
Jaramillo, 38, began riding here Saturday, winning with one of five mounts.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Stanley Gold intends to run at least eight horses for Jacks or Better Farm on a rich Saturday program at Gulfstream Park, and the results could vary wildly.
“I could have a career day,” Gold said Tuesday while holding one of his top older horses, Grande Shores, just outside of his Barn 11 shed row. “Or I could be looking to climb in a hole I’d never want to come out of.”
C.R. Knight, who trained Thoroughbred stakes winners at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and Santa Anita in the late 1970s and early 1980s, died last Friday after an illness, the Del Mar publicity department announced on Sunday.
Knight, better known as Chay Knight, was 80. Born in Ventura, Calif., on Aug. 4, 1934, Knight began as a Quarter Horse trainer. He was based at Los Alamitos in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when his stable included Kaweah Bar, the World Champion Running Quarter Horse in 1968 and 1970.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Flavien Prat has been suspended three days, Friday through Sunday, for causing interference that led to the disqualification of his mount in the first race last Friday.
Prat, who turned 23 on Tuesday, was cited for his ride on Minster’sadventure, who finished first but was disqualified and placed second for causing interference in the stretch of a starter allowance at a mile on turf.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Micks Miracle, the sharp winner of an optional claimer July 25, will miss an extended period of training due to an ankle injury, trainer Phil D’Amato said.
Micks Miracle won an optional claimer at 6 1/2 furlongs by 7 1/2 lengths for his second win in three starts. D’Amato said last weekend that there is no timetable for Micks Miracle’s return.
“We’re trying to form a game plan,” D’Amato said. “Hopefully, we’ll get him back to the races sometime. He’ll need an operation, but it’s minor.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rajiv Maragh, who suffered serious back injuries when his mount Yourcreditisgood fell during the fifth race July 10 at Belmont Park, was fitted with a back brace after consulting with a specialist in New York on Monday.
“It’s been rough, really rough, since the accident,” said Maragh. “I didn’t have any improvement over the last three weeks, so I went for a second opinion and got a back brace. It’s only the first day, but already I feel a little more comfortable, and I see this as a step forward because it gives me more support for my body.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown entered five horses on Monday for the $200,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes but remained undecided about how many of that group actually will compete in Friday’s Grade 2 turf event for 3-year-olds.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rock Fall, who won Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt by a nose over The Big Beast, likely will skip the Grade 1 Forego here Aug. 29 and instead point to the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park on Sept. 26, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Rock Fall won his sixth straight race in the Vanderbilt. He is a son of Speightstown, whom Pletcher trained to victories in the Vanderbilt and Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2004 on his way to being named champion sprinter. In between, Speightstown finished third in the Vosburgh.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Some very good horses have failed in the Haskell Invitational before turning back in distance to win the Grade 1 King’s Bishop. And none of them had to face a Triple Crown winner.
Competitive Edge likely will look to add his name to a list that includes Hard Spun, Tale of the Cat, and More than Ready if he, as expected, runs in the King’s Bishop at seven furlongs here Aug. 29.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Stopchargingmaria chased, caught, and beat the champion Untapable in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee, and they are headed for a rematch in the Grade 1, $750,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
Stopchargingmaria won for the eighth time in 14 career starts, and trainer Todd Pletcher called the performance “arguably the strongest race of her career.”
Stopchargingmaria earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 95 for the effort.
