ARCADIA, Calif. - Secret Circle, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last November, remains on schedule for a start in the $2 million Golden Shaheen Sprint in Dubai on March 29, trainer Bob Baffert said.
Secret Circle has run once this year, finishing second by a neck to Wild Dude in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes over six furlongs on Feb. 2. Baffert admitted that he has some hesitation about a trip to Dubai, wondering how Secret Circle will handle the Tapeta Footings synthetic track.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Beholder, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, continues to train toward a springtime comeback. Monday, Beholder breezed three furlongs in 34.80 seconds, the fastest of 21 recorded works at the distance.
In Southern California, horses are typically described as working in a handily fashion, but Beholder earned the designation of breezing with an easier workout.
Remington Park in Oklahoma City opens one of the nation’s premier Quarter Horse meets Friday night, with a stakes schedule worth more than $4.3 million and jockey G.R. Carter on the countdown to becoming the sport’s all-time winningest jockey. The track’s 50-date season will run through June 1.
Befitting the nature of Mardi Gras itself, the finish of the Mardi Gras Stakes on Tuesday at Fair Grounds hardly could have been any wilder.
Four fillies and mares were battling in deep stretch when a fifth horse, Cozze Up Lady, suddenly appeared from nowhere, with an incredible rally carrying her and jockey Rosie Napravnik to a nose victory over Saturday Nthe Park. The first five were separated by little more than one length.
ARCADIA, Calif. – John Sadler has been trudging through the backstretch at Santa Anita for more than three decades now, steadily rising to the elite among the trainers based in Southern California. He has developed a highly successful stable that competes across all levels, from stakes racing to claimers, turf to dirt, sprinters to routers.
A pair of 3-year-olds who trained all winter at Fair Grounds before shipping out to finish one-two last Saturday in the Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park will go next in separate races in Kentucky, trainer Wayne Catalano said Wednesday from Gulfstream Park in Florida.
Solitary Ranger led all the way to finish clear of a sustained late run by his stablemate, Poker Player, in the Battaglia, a 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race at Turfway in northern Kentucky. The Battaglia is a prep for the annual Turfway showcase, the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes on March 22.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park’s racing secretary, P.J. Campo, saved the best for last Thursday, carding the afternoon’s $51,750 allowance feature as the finale on the 10-race card. Thursday’s main event will be decided at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf and lured nine fillies and mares, led by Coarsegold and Meri Shika.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The extreme weather that has defined the winter of 2014 has led trainer Todd Beattie to send the undefeated Taris to Oaklawn for the Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee on Saturday, rather than return her to Laurel for this weekend’s Caesar’s Wish. As bad as the winter has been in Arkansas, it’s been more severe in Maryland.
“We’ve just had unbelievable weather this year,” Beattie said Tuesday, noting that at one point eight to 12 inches of snow hit Laurel. “It’s just shut us down.”
Race 1 |
Spot PlayKISS THE STARS (#3, 5-2) Don’t really know if we’ll even get as much as 5-2 on this Pino trainee since it’s rather obvious that she is going to be tough to beat after badly needing that Feb. 12 race. Came favored in that one after training forwardly for her return, and without much early pace in here, she’s going to be prominent from the bell. Let’s start the day off with a winner. – Marty McGee |
