Mon, 01/02/2023 - 14:10

Visitant continues love affair with Turfway by winning Holiday Cheer

Coady Photography
Visitant wins the Holiday Cheer on Sunday at Turfway, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 102.

Williamson Racing’s homebred Visitant turned 7 on New Year’s Day, and he celebrated with a four-length victory as the favorite in the $125,000 Holiday Cheer Stakes at Turfway Park, where he has been consistently successful.

Visitant, a Ghostzapper horse trained by Bill Morey, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 102, matching the number he earned in an allowance-optional claiming victory on Dec. 16 at Turfway, his first start in more than eight months. Those two wins have moved his record at Turfway to 10-8-1-1, with four stakes wins.

Mon, 01/02/2023 - 14:10

Multiple stakes winner Fashionably Fast retired

Emily Shields
Fashionably Fast won the Harris Farms Stakes in 2019 and 2021.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Fashionably Fast has run his last race.

A six-time stakes winner against California-breds, Fashionably Fast was sent to co-owner and breeder John Harris’s farm in Coalinga, Calif., last week to begin his retirement, trainer Dean Pederson said Monday.

Fashionably Fast won 10 of 33 starts and earned $807,143 in a five-year career from 2018-22.

Mon, 01/02/2023 - 13:00

General Banker ventures out of restricted company in Jerome

Susie Raisher
General Banker and Eric Cancel return to the winner's circle following the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes last month.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – General Banker will be stepping up in class though he’ll be running for 70 percent less purse money when he starts in Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

General Banker is coming off a monster 8 1/2-length victory in the $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes on Dec. 17. That seven-furlong race was restricted to progeny of stallions based in New York. The Jerome will be General Banker’s ninth start, the first outside of restricted company.

Mon, 01/02/2023 - 12:56

Top four from Harlan's Holiday seek Pegasus World Cup berths

Lauren King/Coglianese Photos
Skippylongstocking wins the Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday, earning a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s Harlan’s Holiday Stakes did indeed serve its purpose as a prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, with the top four finishers all potential candidates for Gulfstream Park’s marquee event on Jan. 28.

Skippylongstocking won the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday by two widening lengths over a game Pioneer of Medina, with Simplification finishing third and O’Connor fourth as the 6-5 favorite. Skippylongstocking earned a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure for his performance in his 3-year-old finale.

Sun, 01/01/2023 - 15:14

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners wins two graded stakes in one hour

Benoit Photo
Ar Force Red, who figures to be a top contender in the March 4 Kilroe Mile, worked Thursday, four days after his prior breeze.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The final lunch hour of 2022 will be difficult to top anytime soon for the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners syndicate.

At 12:01 p.m. at Santa Anita on Saturday, the Eclipse-owned Air Force Red took an early lead in the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course and proved too fast to catch, winning by 1 3/4 lengths.

At 12:57 p.m., Queen Goddess, also owned by Eclipse, had a similar front-running trip in the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf and won by 2 1/2 lengths.

Sun, 01/01/2023 - 11:23

Remington stakes winner Olivia Twist pointing to 3-year-old filly series at Oaklawn

Dustin Orona Photography/Remington Park
Olivia Twist wins the Trapeze Stakes at Remington Park on Saturday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The undefeated stakes winner Olivia Twist is settled in at Oaklawn Park and pointing for the track’s stakes series for 3-year-old fillies, according to her trainer, Todd Fincher.  

Oaklawn's first Kentucky Oaks points race is the $200,000 Martha Washington on Jan. 28. Oaklawn’s other points races for the Kentucky Oaks are the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee on Feb. 25 and the Grade 3, $600,000 Fantasy on April 1.  

Sun, 01/01/2023 - 11:01

Golden Gate cancels card for second straight day

Barbara D. Livingston
Golden Gate Fields was pelted with about five inches of rain over the weekend, and as a result canceled racing on both Saturday and Sunday.

Golden Gate Fields canceled racing on Sunday for the second consecutive day following more than 24 hours of heavy rainfall in the San Francisco-Oakland area.

With dry conditions forecast for Sunday, the track intends to race on Monday, according to general manager David Duggan.

Areas near the track recorded approximately five inches of rain from early Friday to midnight on Saturday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website.

Sun, 01/01/2023 - 10:54

Rain prompts Santa Anita to cancel Sunday card, push Santa Ynez back a week

Emily Shields
Santa Anita expects to run as scheduled on Monday, although it's unclear yet if the turf course will be available.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Due to heavy rain Saturday night, Santa Anita canceled racing for Sunday and postponed the Grade 3 Santa Ynez Stakes by one week. The sprint for 3-year-old fillies will be run Jan. 8, one week later than scheduled.

Fri, 12/30/2022 - 15:22

Fair Grounds cancels Friday dues to 'excessive rain'

Barbara D. Livingston
Fair Grounds is scheduled to resume racing Saturday. First post is 1:15 p.m. Central.

Fair Grounds canceled its Friday race card shortly before scheduled first post at 1:15 p.m. Central. 

A news release from the Churchill Downs Inc.-owned property didn’t explicitly state the reason for the cancellation, saying the decision to scrap the eight-race program came “following excessive rain overnight and throughout the morning.”  

The release described the cancellation as a “joint decision” after a “consultation between track management and the stewards.”