OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Last year, Kiaran McLaughlin captured one of the four graded stakes run at Aqueduct on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. He came within a nose and a neck of winning two more.
That was with three horses. This year, McLaughlin is planning a full-out assault on the four graded stakes held on the final Saturday of November at Aqueduct.
Beholder, the two-time champion who missed this year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff after becoming ill, has recovered and now will be turned out before coming back to race next year, trainer Richard Mandella said Thursday at Del Mar.
“Her blood is good. X-rays of her lungs are good. Now, it’s just a matter of how much time to give her – one month, two months,” Mandella said. “She was sick. She was trying to get pneumonia.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Art Sherman was at Del Mar on Thursday morning, setting up the few stalls he’ll use to run out of during the fall meeting here. Like most trainers for this season, he’ll keep his main string in place at its usual residence and ship in to run.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Javier Castellano, the leading rider in the nation in terms of purse money won, on Saturday will begin serving a seven-day suspension for careless riding stemming from an incident last year.
Castellano dropped his appeal of a suspension handed him by the New York stewards for his ride aboard Intense Holiday in last year’s Grade 2 Nashua Stakes. Castellano maneuvered Intense Holiday over to the inside and forced the rider on Tiznowforamerica to check and nearly go into the rail.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Travis Stone, the race-caller at Monmouth Park, has been hired by the New York Racing Association to be the backup announcer to John Imbriale.
Stone will call the races this Sunday and Monday as well as Nov. 16 and Nov. 19-23. He also will call on days when Imbriale is ill or on vacation.
When not calling, Stone will work in various departments at NYRA, including operations, simulcasting, and television. Stone will remain the announcer at Monmouth Park.
Stone’s hiring coincides with the 35th anniversary of Imbriale’s first day at NYRA.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Mike Luzzi, who suffered a broken leg and pelvis in a paddock accident Sunday, was to be transferred Wednesday afternoon to North Shore University Hospital after undergoing surgery earlier in the week at Jamaica Hospital in New York.
On Monday, Luzzi had a rod and screws inserted into his leg and had his pelvis “pinned together,” according to his wife, Tania.
“I’d say he’s a critical patient but a stable one,” Tania Luzzi said Wednesday. “It was a very serious injury.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Christophe Clement trains three of the 14 horses entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct, the last graded turf stakes for fillies and mares to be run this year on this circuit. Only 12 will be permitted to run in the 1 1/2-mile race.
Clement entered Aigue Marine, sixth as the 8-5 favorite in last year’s Long Island, Maximova, and Tabreed.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tonalist, the Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner who finished fifth in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, arrived in Payson Park in Florida on Wednesday. Tonalist will get a break before preparing for a 4-year-old campaign that could include a start in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Big Macher, who finished ninth in the $1,380,000 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita last Saturday, may start at the Del Mar autumn meeting.
Trainer Richard Baltas said Big Macher will be considered for the $100,000 Cary Grant Stakes for California-breds over seven furlongs on Nov. 23. The Cary Grant was formerly known as the On Trust Stakes when run in the past at Hollywood Park.
Big Macher stumbled at the start of the BC Sprint and never recovered. He was last of 14 until early stretch and was beaten 4 1/4 lengths by the 19-1 winner Work All Week.
California stakes winners Pontchatrain and Top Kisser have been retired and will be bred in 2015.
Pontchatrain finished seventh in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita last Sunday. Following the race, Craig Bernick of owner Glen Hill Farm said on Twitter that it was time for Pontchatrain "to be a mom" and that the 4-year-old was having breathing difficulties.
By War Front, Pontchatrain won 6 of 10 starts and earned $446,392 for Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor. Pontchatrain won four consecutive turf stakes from September 2013 until February of this year.
