Trainer Jonathan Wong, a 26-year-old San Francisco native, earned his first victory Friday when heavily favored Pressure Time ran down Stretch Home and pulled away to a 2 1/4-length victory in a $3,200 claimer.
“I was really happy,” Wong said of the win, which came with his eighth starter. “I could tell at the quarter pole he had a good chance.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Harry Rosenblum, an investment banker based in Little Rock, Ark., is having a notable influence on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Far Right, a horse he owns in partnership, won Oaklawn’s first Arkansas Derby prep, the Smarty Jones Stakes, and War Story, a horse he sold this winter, ran second in the first Louisiana Derby prep at Fair Grounds, the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, worked three furlongs in 36.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Tuesday, her first major exercise of an expected springtime comeback.
Owned by B. Wayne Hughes and trained by Richard Mandella, Beholder was sidelined with illness last October in the days before a scheduled start in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. She was rested through the autumn before resuming training.
“She’s starting to come along,” Mandella said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Finnegans Wake has become the top turf distance runner in Southern California in the past three months, a status trainer Peter Miller is hoping to further enhance in coming weeks.
Finnegans Wake won his third consecutive turf stakes in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita last Saturday. While Miller said Finnegans Wake would be nominated for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on dirt on March 7, the $200,000 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf on March 21 is the goal.
As of Tuesday, eight horses have been confirmed for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on the Tapeta synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields. The race offers 10 points toward the Kentucky Derby.
Conquest Typhoon, a finalist for the Sovereign Award for Canada’s top 2-year-old male, will make his 3-year-old debut under Mike Smith in the El Camino Real. He won the Grade 2 Summer Stakes at Woodbine and the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille at Del Mar and was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
The Equine Encore Performance at Charles Town retirement program reports it placed 54 Charles Town-based horses during its first year.
Equine Encore Performance at Charles Town (www.equineencoreperformanceatct.org) is a non-profit corporation staffed by volunteers. It receives the majority of its financial support from horse owners through a fee of $2 per starter. It also accepts donations from foundations and the public.
Filly and mare sprinters seldom get to run for $300,000, which is why the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park on Saturday is drawing runners from California, Florida, and New York. But one top contender won’t have to travel at all.
Lady Sabelia has resided in trainer Robin Graham’s barn at Laurel since 2012. And while that may give her a slight edge Saturday, she has more going for her than just home-field advantage. Lady Sabelia has been mopping the decks with her competition since last spring, and has won five of her last six races.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Chad Brown won three races over the weekend with 3-year-olds making their first start, but he said he is in no rush to push them along the Derby trail.
The winners were Lieutenant Colonel (by Colonel John) and Rare Art (by Speightstown) on Saturday, and Delightful Joy (by Tapit) on Sunday.
“Obviously there are some nice races at this time of year, but we’re always looking at the whole year,” Brown said. “I mean, we’ll look at how a race like the Swale is coming up, but I’m more about big picture.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Buff Bradley has had lightning strike twice in his 22-year training career with $2.1-million-earner Brass Hat and two-time champion Groupie Doll.
No one is suggesting a 3-year-old colt named Divisidero is about to follow in their footsteps, but a rallying triumph by the 3-year-old Kitten’s Joy colt in his career debut here Saturday “sure was impressive,” Bradley said.
Divisidero, a $250,000 yearling purchase for the Gunpowder Farms of Pennsylvania businessman Tom Keithley, was sent off at 25-1 in the 1 1/16-mile maiden race on grass.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Harlington’s Rose became a stakes winner in her 18th start in the minor Kalookan Queen Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 28.
Trainer Steve Knapp has the goal of making the 4-year-old filly a graded stakes winner this spring, which is why he scratched Harlington’s Rose from the minor Wishing Well Stakes on turf last Sunday in favor of an optional claimer at six furlongs on dirt at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Knapp envisions the optional claimer as a prep for the $100,000 Las Flores, a Grade 3 stakes for older fillies and mares at six furlongs on March 8.
