ARCADIA, Calif. – Hoppertunity, the three-time stakes winner who was third in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 13, might make a quick turnaround for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 27.
Trainer Bob Baffert said Hoppertunity’s status will be determined by how the 4-year-old colt continues his recovery from the Foster.
“If he bounces out of it, he might be a starter,” Baffert said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The pace in the June 27 Gold Cup at Santa Anita will be legitimate, thanks to Big Cazanova. Trainer Peter Miller said the Grade 3-winning front-runner was on target for the 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup, one of four horses Miller is considering for the race.
“Big Cazanova for sure and Finnegans Wake if he works well [Saturday],” Miller said when asked about his Gold Cup nominees. Plans for the other two nominees, Lideris and Poshsky, are undetermined.
ARCADIA, Calif. - At 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, Triple Crown hero American Pharoah walked off a Bob Hubbard Transportation horse van on the Santa Anita backstretch.
American Pharoah was home.
Greeted by approximately 200 people, American Pharoah was one of five horses from Bob Baffert’s stable - four racehorses and a pony - flown from Churchill Downs early Thursday. After arriving at Ontario airport 25 miles east of Santa Anita, the horses took the hour-long drive to Santa Anita.
ELMONT, N.Y. – You don’t name a horse Touchofstarquality without cause, and though it’s taken a while, this 5-year-old son of Mineshaft lived up to his name last Saturday, winning a second-level allowance race by 5 3/4 lengths and earning a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.
Touchofstarquality, trained by Michelle Nevin for Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable, has run only six times but has shown glimpses of talent, including a maiden win two years ago as a first-time starter. Still, Nevin viewed last Saturday’s performance at 1 1/8 miles as a breakthrough for the good-sized horse.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Samraat, the multiple-graded-stakes-winning New York-bred who has not raced in a year, is working toward a return to the races. On Wednesday at Aqueduct, he worked a mile in 1:44.63, his fourth published work.
As a 3-year-old last year, Samraat won the Withers and Gotham at Aqueduct before running second in the Wood Memorial, his first defeat. He ran fifth in the Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Belmont Stakes. Samraat injured a cannon bone while working toward a start in the Jim Dandy.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The life of a private trainer is an enjoyable one when the client is happy. You have only one person with whom to discuss plans; no need to hustle owners; a steady influx of horses.
But when the relationship sours – and ultimately ends – the trainer has to pick up the pieces and move on. That’s not always easy.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A spring spent in the Bay Area nearly made a stakes winner of Harmonic, who runs in Saturday’s $75,000 Singletary Stakes at a mile on turf.
Harmonic finished second by a nose in the Alcatraz Stakes at Golden Gate Fields on May 10 and returned to win an optional claimer at a mile on turf May 25. Those races have trainer Jerry Hollendorfer hoping Harmonic can be a factor in a competitive running of the Singletary.
“We think he’s better on turf,” Hollendorfer said. “He doesn’t mind us shipping him around.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Although Prospect Park lost the Grade 3 Affirmed as the odds-on favorite June 7, the comeback effort – his first start in two months – earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure and set up the colt for a summer campaign.
Trainer Cliff Sise and owner Marty Wygod have discussed two options for what may be next.
“We’re looking at the Los Alamitos Derby or the Oceanside,” Sise said. “It’s 50-50.”
The purse for the Los Alamitos Derby on July 4 is $350,000, while the purse for the Oceanside Stakes on July 16 on turf at Del Mar is $100,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bayern, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last November who has been beaten in two starts this year, is a candidate for the $200,000 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on July 25 at Del Mar.
Trainer Bob Baffert said the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap has appeal because it is around two turns and could serve as a prep race for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 22.
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ARCADIA, Calif. – Triple Crown winner American Pharoah might have a workout between races on the June 27 card at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said Thursday.
American Pharoah, who was shipped Thursday from Kentucky to California, is scheduled to be at least paraded between races June 27, the day of the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Baffert said he wants to work American Pharoah that weekend and will speak with Santa Anita officials about the possibility of a public workout.
“That would be pretty cool,” Baffert said.
