Wed, 07/15/2015 - 14:06

2016 racing dates subject of CHRB meeting

Southern California racetracks and horsemen’s organizations have yet to reach an agreement on 2016 racing dates, an issue scheduled to be discussed at Friday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting in Del Mar.

The racing calendar for 2016 could be finalized Friday. The options include a calendar largely unchanged from 2014 and 2015 or one that gives Los Alamitos three-week meetings in the spring and early summer and a two-week meeting in December. Under that plan, Los Alamitos would not race in September, with racing shifting to Santa Anita during that time.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 14:01

Calculator has eye on Malibu

Benoit & Associates
Calculator, winning the Sham Stakes in January, is back in training and is targeting a prep race and then the Malibu at Santa Anita.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Calculator, who finished second to American Pharoah in the Del Mar Futurity last summer and went on to win the Sham Stakes in January, is back in training after being sent to the sidelines earlier this year, trainer Peter Miller said.

Calculator is at San Luis Rey Downs, where Miller keeps the bulk of his horses. He said his hope is to get one prep into Calculator prior to the Malibu Stakes, a Grade 1, seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds that traditionally kicks off Santa Anita’s winter meeting Dec. 26.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 14:01

American Pharoah gallops 1 1/4 miles

Shigeki Kikkawa
American Pharoah, like all Thoroughbreds, is fragile and any race could be his last.

DEL MAR, Calif. – American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner, galloped about 1 1/4 miles Wednesday at Del Mar, his second morning on the track after arriving in the wee hours Tuesday.

He jogged on Tuesday but on Wednesday was back to galloping, and he will continue to gallop until his next workout, which will be no later than Monday. He will have all his workouts at Del Mar in advance of his next scheduled start, the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 13:56

Hollendorfer 3-year-olds might be headed to Saratoga

Shigeki Kikkawa
Super Majesty won her maiden by more than six lengths.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Super Majesty, the unbeaten 3-year-old filly, and Kentuckian, who disappointed in his two-turn debut in the Los Alamitos Derby, both worked Wednesday at Del Mar for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who said he was considering sending both to Saratoga for, respectively, the Test and the King’s Bishop.

Super Majesty, with Alex Solis aboard, went a half-mile in 50 seconds. Kentuckian, with Mike Smith up, went a half-mile in 48 seconds. They worked alone, about an hour apart.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 13:37

Viva Majorca targets Grade 1 Vanderbilt Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Viva Majorca is 6-5 on the morning line to win Sunday's eighth race at Churchill Downs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Ian Wilkes says he thinks Viva Majorca can be a force in the sprint division during the second half of the season. He will get his first opportunity to find out if his theory is correct here at Saratoga on Aug. 1 when Viva Majorca tries Grade 1 sprint competition for the first time in the six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 13:00

Good Lord eyes fourth straight Bernhardt win

Coady Photography
Good Lord (red silks) wins the 2014 Mountaineer Mile.

Good Lord will be trying for a rare achievement Saturday as one of seven older horses in the $50,000 Don Bernhardt at Ellis Park.

Trained by Forrest Kaelin, Good Lord has won the 6 1/2-furlong Bernhardt the last three years. He will break from post 4 when ridden by Miguel Mena.

Good Lord, an 8-year-old Florida-bred by Greatness, has 14 wins from 70 career starts. He was sixth in the 2011 Bernhardt before winning every year from 2012 to 2014.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 12:56

Ellis Park notes: Saez will appeal suspension

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Phil Sims recently confirmed the retirement of Don't Tell Sophia.

Sebastian Saez has been held blameless for the disqualification of his mount, Snickerboxer, from first to third in the final race Saturday at Ellis Park, but the 16-year-old apprentice still has a three-day suspension hanging over him.

Saez was suspended for a July 5 incident in which Ready by You was disqualified from second to seventh. His agent, Julio Espinoza, said the penalty will be appealed.

Saez is the younger brother of Juan Saez, who easily led the Ellis standings last summer before being fatally injured in an October spill at Indiana Grand.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 12:26

Future looks bright for Joe Santos

Courtesy of Joe Santos
Joe Santos (right) is the son of retired jockey Jose Santos.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fame in racing came easily to Joe Santos as a young boy, but now he’s working hard for a more lasting reward.

In the spring of 2003, Santos had his image splashed virtually everywhere as an 8-year-old when his father, Jose Santos, rode Funny Cide to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Now just days from his 21st birthday, Joe Santos is working daily as the agent for jockeys Didiel Osorio and Jack Gilligan while three semesters away from earning a college degree.

Wed, 07/15/2015 - 09:11

Fritz returns from injury

Joe Nevills
Jockey Natasha Fritz rides on Friday for the first time since breaking her tibia in March

Jockey Natasha Fritz will ride for the first time in 2015 on Friday at Hazel Park after breaking her tibia in a March training accident.

Fritz, 27, was Hazel Park’s third-leading Quarter Horse jockey by wins last year, and topped the Quarter Horse standings during the final Mount Pleasant Meadows meet in 2013. While primarily a Quarter Horse rider in Michigan and Indiana, Fritz has also taken occasional Thoroughbred mounts and has won stakes on Arabians.

Tue, 07/14/2015 - 17:30

Delaware Handicap rematches Frivolous, Sheer Drama

Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs
Frivolous, ridden by Jon Court, pays $66.20 for her upset win in the Fleur de Lis.

The Grade 1, $750,000 Delaware Handicap drew a field of seven when entries were taken Tuesday.

The Saturday race is for fillies and mares and will be run at 1 1/4 miles. Favoritism will likely go to Sheer Drama, Frivolous, or Rosalind.

Delaware Park has also carded the Grade 3, $200,000 Kent Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds, and two $50,000 stakes, the Hockessin and the Carl Hanford.