The $90,000 Kenny Noe Jr. Stakes did not have sufficient entries to fill on Saturday but was carried over and will be run Sunday with a field of seven older horses set to go six furlongs on the main track. Owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza helped make the race by supplementing Little Daddy.
Little Daddy is coming off the best effort of his career, crushing a solid field of allowance horses last week at Gulfstream Park West.
Rock Shandy won on opening day at Del Mar, and could try to bookend the meet with a win on closing day. After defeating maidens last week in his first try around two turns, he could come back in the Grade 3, $150,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes for 2-year-olds on Nov. 30, according to trainer Peter Miller.
“Hopefully he’s turned the corner,” said Miller, who said he would decide on whether to go in the DeMille after conferring with Jerry Crawford, who runs the Donegal Racing partnership that owns Rock Shandy.
DEL MAR, Calif. – When trainer Michael McCarthy returned to his native Southern California late last year and went out on his own after working as an assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher, his clientele largely focused on upcoming 2-year-olds. It takes time and patience for that approach to come to fruition, but McCarthy’s small barn is picking up steam, and fast.
Trainer Michael S. Ferraro sent out his 3,000th career winner when Sweet Sweet Afleet won the eighth race at Finger Lakes on Wednesday.
Ferraro has won 18 training titles at Finger Lakes dating back to 1975. He has won 2,869 races at Finger Lakes.
Ferraro's best best horse was Fio Rito, a winner of 28 races and the first New York-bred to win a Grade 1. Fio Rito won the 1981 Whitney for Ferraro, who was 42 at the time.
Ferraro, from Buffalo, N.Y., is the father of trainer M. Anthony Ferraro, who also trains at Finger Lakes.
Heritage Place, the auction house in Oklahoma City, will put on its third annual winter mixed Thoroughbred sale Dec. 13. The auction will feature breeding stock and horses of racing age and is being held in conjunction with closing weekend at Remington Park.
Entries to the sale close Saturday, said Spence Kidney, general manager of Heritage Place.
Heritage Place is an indoor facility that puts on a number of major auctions for Quarter Horses. The sale for Thoroughbreds will begin at 11 a.m. Central.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Wednesday he plans to ship his stable between Dec. 7 and Dec. 10 to Oaklawn Park for the winter meet there, which opens in January. Lukas is currently racing at Churchill Downs. He has stabled at Oaklawn in recent winters.
Oaklawn received a record number stall requests for the upcoming meet, with accommodations for 2,800 horses sought at the track, which can hold about 1,500.
“We’re pleased with the number of applications, but what really stands out is the quality of them,” said Pat Pope, the longtime racing secretary at Oaklawn.
Trainer Eloy Navarro, whose recent success with Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos has been the source of controversy, has a first-time starter, I Am Going Global, entered to run in the third race at Del Mar on Friday.
I Am Going Global is entered in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden-claiming race for 2-year-old fillies. She is eligible to be claimed for $30,000. She shows a spotty pattern of published works, all recorded at Los Alamitos.
MIAMI – The $90,000 Kenny Noe Jr. Stakes, which failed to fill Saturday, will be carried over to Sunday’s card at Gulfstream Park West.
Only 16 horses were nominated to the six-furlong dash, with Black Diamond Cat, City of Weston, Close It Out, Grande Shores, Risk Factor, and Speechify among those expected to start if the race goes Sunday.
Trainer Marty Wolfson said he might have considered running defending champ Simmstown had the Kenny Noe Jr. been carded at 6 1/2 furlongs, as it was last year. Simmstown has been idle since January.
Jockey Stewart Elliott intends to resume riding at the Turfway Park holiday meet that begins Dec. 4, according to Jose Santos Jr., who will be his agent at the northern Kentucky track.
Elliott, best known for his winning rides on Smarty Jones in the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, rode sparingly at the Keeneland fall meet after returning from a rib injury sustained in mid-August at Del Mar.
MIAMI – At a time of year when most of the top handicap horses stabled on the East Coast have travel plans that will take them to Miami for the winter, Itsmyluckyday and Atreides will find themselves heading in the opposite direction over the next couple of weeks.
