Simmering acrimony between a prominent trainer and top jockey erupted into fisticuffs on Sunday at Los Alamitos, where trainer Richard Baltas and jockey Martin Pedroza scuffled briefly before being separated by a security guard.
Baltas emerged from the scrap with a swollen nose after Pedroza struck him in the face with his helmet. Baltas claimed that Pedroza instigated the incident; Pedroza said it was Baltas who started the fight.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – When you’ve been training for over 50 years and have won more than 3,300 Thoroughbred races where does the motivation come from to get up at 4:30 a.m. every morning and head to the track?
“It’s the young horses that keep the fires burning,” says trainer Gerry Bennett.
Embarrassed by the fact one of his horses tested positive for a banned substance, owner-breeder Barry Ostrager has terminated his relationship with trainer David Cannizzo.
Ostrager was the owner of Ave’s Halo, one of three horses trained by Cannizzo that tested positive for the presence of the drug propoxyphene, a painkiller also known as Darvon, in its system following a race. Ave’s Halo tested positive after winning a claiming race Sept. 24 at Belmont Park. The horse was claimed out of that race.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Happy holidays – settle in and get comfortable.
There is a holiday for Southern California racing fans in late December – the opening day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Friday.
Few days in American racing are as highly anticipated as opening day at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. The track may have only concluded its autumn meeting on Nov. 2, but the day after Christmas is one celebrated by racing fans.
ARCADIA, Calif. – One season after California Chrome emerged from the winter preps at Santa Anita to capture both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, it appears the current crop of locally based runners for the 2015 Kentucky Derby is both strong and deep.
At Santa Anita right now, you could walk through the stable area and encounter the likes of American Pharoah, Dortmund, and Texas Red, who among them won the Del Mar Futurity, FrontRunner Stakes, Los Alamitos Futurity, and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
ARCADIA, Calif. – On Nov. 3, two days after Goldencents won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for the second consecutive year, the 4-year-old colt was vanned from Santa Anita to Ontario airport for a flight to Kentucky.
Earlier that afternoon, owners Glenn Sorgenstein and Josh Kaplan hosted a going-away party for Goldencents at trainer Doug O’Neill’s stable in the Santa Anita barns. The get-together had one notable absentee, O’Neill, who was in the midst of a suspension for a medication violation in New York in 2012 and was not permitted in the barn area.
Majestic Harbor, the winner of the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita last June, worked a half-mile in 47.40 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday.
The exercise brought back memories of the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 for owner Ron Beegle, and not necessarily favorable ones.
“He worked better than he ran in the Breeders’ Cup,” Beegle said.
Five months after he returned to California from his native Brazil, trainer Paulo Lobo is forming a stable that could be prominent in stakes in 2015.
Saturday at Los Alamitos, Lobo won an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles with Baccelo, a Group 1 stakes winner in Brazil in 2013. Over the weekend, the stable grew with the arrivals of Alakazan Alakazan, Lady Zuzu, and Macro Access, Lobo said.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Cozmic One, the first foal produced by 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, may have his career debut at Santa Anita in January or February.
Sunday, Cozmic One had his first workout in California, going five furlongs in 1:04.20 at Santa Anita. Jockey Victor Espinoza was aboard Cozmic One, who was not urged while working alone.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - When you have been training more than 50 years and have won more than 2,300 races, where does the motivation come from to get up at 4:30 every morning and head to the track?.
“It’s the young horses that keep the fires burning,” says trainer Gerry Bennett.
