ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board announced Thursday that it will enact stringent penalties for riders found using electrical devices in races or workouts, including referring cases to local district attorneys for legal action.
A racing board spokesman said there are no cases pending for possession of an electrical device.
The anticipated showdown between Game On Dude and Lea in the Grade 2, $1.5 million Charles Town Classic on April 19 will not happen as Lea has been withdrawn from consideration for the race after developing a fever, trainer Bill Mott said Thursday.
Mott said Lea was diagnosed with the temperature Monday at his winter/spring base of Payson Park.
“Everything is down to normal today, but obviously his system has been challenged,” Mott said by phone. “We’re going to back off of him for a while.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Bob Baffert said Secret Circle has been scratched from the Grade 3, $300,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Thursday after he learned that the horse was given a tranquilizer shortly after boarding his Tex Sutton flight from Southern California to Arkansas. The flight was Wednesday.
Baffert said the horse had to be scratched because it would take at least 48 hours for the tranquilizer to clear his system. He said the horse’s ownership group is presently traveling to Oaklawn.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Fashion Plate and Ria Antonia, the first two finishers in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 5, are bound for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2, their trainers confirmed Thursday.
Fashion Plate won the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks by 1 1/4 lengths over Ria Antonia, leading throughout the race over 1 1/16 miles. Trained by Simon Callaghan, Fashion Plate won the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes in February in her stakes debut.
“She came out of the race as good as you can hope,” Callaghan said. “She’s sending the right signals.”
Tonalist, second in a Gulfstream allowance race that produced Florida Derby winner Constitution and Wood Memorial winner Wicked Strong, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, trainer Christophe Clement said.
Clement decided to keep Tonalist out of the April 5 Wood Memorial because he wasn’t happy with the colt’s last workout before the race. Clement said Tonalist remains at Payson Park in Florida.
In lieu of a stakes race Saturday, Aqueduct’s nine-race card will feature three open allowance races on its nine-race program.
The richest race on the card is the first, a $67,000 first-level allowance scheduled for a mile on turf. However, the forecast for Friday night included the possibility of a quarter-inch to as much as a half-inch of rain lasting into early Saturday morning.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tumultuous times and a harsh winter in Ontario have given way to a wet spring, but a sure sign that the tide has turned is the return of live racing to Woodbine on Saturday with a 10-race card of mostly shorter sprints that attracted 87 entries.
At 133 days, the meet is the same length as last year, and the average daily purse distribution of $508,000 is roughly the same as in 2013.
[bc_video_id:321095:]ARCADIA, Calif. – Sky High Gal has won stakes on the hillside turf course and at a mile on turf at Santa Anita since the start of 2013. Such races will be the focus for the rest of her career.
“She’s good in anything up to a mile,” trainer John Sadler said Thursday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Palace Malice, the recent winner of the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap, will make his next start in the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester at Belmont Park on May 11, his connections announced in a press release Wednesday.
The Westchester was chosen over races such as the Alysheba at Churchill Downs and the Pimlico Special and will be used as a prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on June 7.
Gulfstream Park's 2013-14 championship meet, which began Dec. 1, ended last Sunday with total live handle ontrack at almost $50 million and all-sources handle at $691 million. Both figures were down slightly from the previous season, although, as Gulfstream Park president Tim Ritvo noted, the track ran 55 fewer races in December than at the previous meet and 35 fewer turf races overall during the meet than in 2012-13. Gulfstream also raced in direct competition with neighboring Calder for the first time.
