ARCADIA, Calif. – Blingo, the winner of the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes in February, and Eblouissante, a half-sister to 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, are bound for stakes in coming weeks.
Trainer John Shirreffs said on Friday that Blingo will run in the $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap over 1 1/8 miles at Oaklawn Park on April 12. Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, Blingo was third in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 8 in his most recent start.
Friday, Blingo worked seven furlongs in 1:26.80.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin opted to go the more conservative route with his debut-winning filly Regent’s House, and skipped Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle.
McLaughlin said he decided to aim for an allowance race and wait to tackle stakes company later in the year. Regent’s House, a daughter of Street Cry out of the multiple champion Ashado, won a six-furlong maiden race by 6 1/2 lengths here on March 9.
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ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2013 Breeders’ Cup race winners Beholder and Secret Circle worked on Friday at Santa Anita, in preparation for major stakes.
Beholder, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, worked seven furlongs in 1:27. Trainer Richard Mandella said that Beholder has the $1 million Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park on June 7 as her late-spring goal, and that prep races at Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, or Santa Anita are possible.
Beholder has not raced since winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita last November.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - King Kreesa, who earned two New York-bred awards for his 2013 campaign when trained by Jeremiah Englehart, has been transferred by his owners to David Donk.
“We decided we wanted to make a change to a smaller barn,” owner Gerald Kresa said Friday. “David’s around all the time, his employees have been around for a number of years. Jeremiah has horses at Finger Lakes and goes back and forth a lot.”
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Kid Cruz will not make a last-ditch effort to make the Kentucky Derby.
Kid Cruz, who impressed with an eye-catching last-to-first victory in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel on March 8, was scratched from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial due to a minor shoulder strain, trainer Linda Rice said.
Rice said that if the horse improves she will try to run him in the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne on April 19 as a possible prep for the Preakness at Pimlico on May 17.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sunday at Santa Anita, trainer Peter Miller starts two South American imports who could play roles in turf stakes this year.
Big Cazanova, a maiden who placed in several group stakes in Argentina and Peru, starts in an optional claimer over 1 1/8 miles on turf.
Later, Dr Action, a multiple stakes winner in Peru last year, makes his American debut in the $75,000 Thunder Road Stakes. Later this year, Miller said that Lideris, a Group 1 winner in Peru on March 15, and Kung Fu Mambo, a Group 1 winner in Peru in 2012, will join his Southern California stable.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Majestic Harbor won his first stakes in the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup over 1 1/2 miles on March 29, a win that has led trainer Sean McCarthy to pick an even loftier goal for early summer.
McCarthy said on Friday that Majestic Harbor is a candidate for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28. The Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita over 1 1/4 miles on the main track was formerly known as the Hollywood Gold Cup. Hollywood Park closed permanently last December.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Echoing its glory days, Calumet Farm was all alone atop the owner standings at the 2014 Keeneland spring meet – at least for one race.
A 4-year-old filly named English Council rallied to a 10-1 upset in the first race of the 15-day meet Friday, giving the formerly all-powerful Calumet a short-lived lead and delighting 68-year-old trainer Jose Fernandez.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Calvin Borel will have the mount on Rose to Gold in the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom next Friday, said her trainer, Sal Santoro. It will be the first time Borel has teamed with the near millionaire since she was eighth in last year’s Kentucky Oaks. Prior to that race, Borel guided Rose to Gold to victories in the Grade 3 Fantasy and Grade 3 Honeybee, both at Oaklawn.
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ARCADIA, Calif. – Dennis Decauwer has a tough act to follow – his own.
The local horseplayer – retired accountant, grandfather, family man – will be among more than 100 handicappers gunning for $75,000 in prizes next weekend, April 12-13, when Santa Anita hosts its second handicapping tournament of the season.
