ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Alonso Quinonez will learn in coming days how long he will be sidelined after suffering a fracture near his tailbone in a spill at Barretts at Fairplex on Sept. 21, the rider said Friday.
Quinonez said he plans to visit doctors Monday and Tuesday to assess his condition.
“I’ll learn how long it will be,” he said. “I don’t want to say next week or two weeks. It depends on the fracture.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – On July 22, Phil Schoenthal walked into the paddock at Parx with his unstarted 2-year-old filly Miss Behaviour feeling pretty good about his chances. Well before the race, the filly had a sensational workout at Bowie, one that prompted many phone calls from friends and agents who had heard about it.
Departing’s connections did not get caught up in Derby fever this spring and instead have employed a conservative campaign. The payoff has been a strong second half for Departing, who comes into Sunday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park in search of his fifth stakes win of the year.
Departing, whose $1.3 million in earnings is greater than the combined bankrolls of his seven rivals, is the marquee horse on a special afternoon program of six stakes worth a total of $975,000. The most important card of the meet includes the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks.
In 2012, Flame N Flash won the Mildred N. Vessels Handicap at Los Alamitos against older fillies and mares in September, and was later was second by a head in the $750,000 Champion of Champions against older males in December.
Those results were enough for Flame N Flash to be named the champion 3-year-old Quarter Horse filly of 2012. Success in the same races this year could lead to the title of champion aged mare.
With his stable split between Gulfstream Park and Saratoga this summer and now into the fall, trainer Ralph Nicks has logged a lot of miles overseeing his operation. He also has picked up some new clients and several promising young horses along the way, including the 3-year-old Speechify, who will put his unblemished record on the line in Sunday’s first-level optional $25,000 claiming feature at Gulfstream.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Six weeks have passed since Indy Point finished last of 13 as the favorite in the Arlington Million on Aug. 17, a race intended to showcase why he was a star in Argentina in 2012.
Indy Point grabbed both of his front feet when racing in traffic in the Arlington Million and never reached contention.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wayne Catalano said a friend was curious about what he was doing in recent weeks when his horses went on an incredible 10-for-15 tear at Kentucky Downs.
“I told him, ‘I’m house hunting down there!’ ” joked Catalano. “I mean, I don’t know. We were just fortunate to have a meet like that. You don’t see something like that very often.”
No, you don’t, and not even from a trainer who perennially dominates his home Chicago circuit and generally wins his share wherever he travels, including Kentucky in the spring and fall and Florida in the winter.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Dan Wills, 53, has been active as a trainer at both Fort Erie and Woodbine since 2000, and year after year, he continues to send out winners at both ovals.
Fort Erie has been his home base since he formally took out his trainer’s license. His partner in life and assistant trainer at the track, Jeanne Ryan, owns the majority of horses in his barn.
“I have been round horses all my life, and it all began in England when as a teenager I began working with Thoroughbreds and gained my apprentice jockey’s license at the age of 16,” Wills said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – King David is a real racing rarity as a horse whose first start after a claim resulted in a Grade 1 victory. The colt pulled off that remarkable feat last fall in winning the Jamaica on the Belmont Park turf after being haltered for $35,000 just three weeks earlier.
The postscript wasn’t quite as storybook, however, because King David was forced to the shelf just a few months later with a knee chip. Fast-forward eight months, and the epilogue to his continuing tale begins Sunday on the closing-day program of the 12-day September meet at Churchill Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Sovereign Award for champion 3-year-old male could be decided on foreign soil next Saturday with both Five Iron and Up With the Birds slated to travel to Belmont Park for the Grade 1, $500,000 Jamaica at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.
Five Iron, a Kentucky-bred, will be seeking his fourth straight stakes win, all at 1 1/8 miles, in the Jamaica.
