Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:30

Super Corredora to Santa Ysabel; Journalism works

Barbara D. Livingston
Super Corredora won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Super Corredora, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2025, will have her second start of 2026 in Sunday’s Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, trainer John Sadler confirmed over the weekend.

Super Corredora, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar, finished last of four in the Las Virgenes Sakes at a mile on Feb. 8 at Santa Anita. She has since worked twice, most recently going five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on Sunday. The time was one of the quickest at the distance on a busy morning.

Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:28

D'Amato eyeing Grade 1s for Thought Process

Benoit Photo
Thought Process has won 6 of 8 starts on turf.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Thought Process, winner of the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes on turf last Saturday at Santa Anita, is scheduled to have a 2026 season focused on making the 4-year-old filly a Grade 1 winner. The question of how many races will be tried at that level will be determined soon.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday that the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes, a $300,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf on May 25 at Santa Anita, is the main goal of the spring.

Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:27

Cox well stocked for Tampa Bay Derby Day

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Brad Cox will likely run Disco Time in the Grade 3, $125,000 Challenger Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

Trainer Brad Cox will likely have the favorite in the Tampa Bay Derby in Further Ado, but he is also likely to have big chances in several of the other stakes on Saturday’s card.

Cox said Sunday that he will probably run Disco Time in the Grade 3, $125,000 Challenger Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Disco Time, who won his first five starts, including three stakes, suffered his first career defeat in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup when he got involved in a speed duel and faded to eighth.

Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:24

El Potente to run in Frank Kilroe Mile instead of Dubai

Benoit Photo
El Potente won the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf by a commanding 3 3/4 lengths on Feb. 7 at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – After being considered for a trip to Dubai later this month, El Potente will remain in California for Saturday’s Grade 2 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.

Military action in Iran, which led to drone strikes in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday and Sunday, was part of the decision, according to trainer Dan Blacker.

“As it turned out, that was a factor,” Blacker said Sunday. “It’s too much of a risk. We left the door open until yesterday.”

Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:24

Pletcher seeks seventh Tampa Bay Derby win

Tom Keyser
Powershift (3) was narrowly beaten by Emerging Market (inside) on debut in a swiftly rated mile-and-40-yard maiden race at Tampa on Feb. 7.

Last month, trainer Todd Pletcher won a record-extending eighth Sam F. Davis Stakes with the maiden Renegade. Saturday, Pletcher will try to win a record-extending seventh Tampa Bay Derby with the maiden Powershift.

Sat, 02/28/2026 - 10:44

Cherokee Nation to Santa Anita Derby off blazing maiden romp

ARCADIA, Calif. – Cherokee Nation’s 10-length maiden romp Friday at Santa Anita in 1:34.50, the fastest dirt mile at Santa Anita in nearly a decade, produced a 100 Beyer Speed Figure and earned the colt a start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4.

“That was a ‘Wow,’ the light went on,” trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday morning. “He was a different horse yesterday. He’s just starting to fill out, he’s figuring it out.”

Fri, 02/27/2026 - 14:12

British Isles to run in Big Cap

Barbara D. Livingston
British Isles was beaten 9 1/2 lengths by Skippylongstocking in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup.

In late November, for his 22nd start, British Isles had a career change. The then-4-year-old gelding started on dirt after 18 consecutive races on turf.

The surface switch has led to the goal of running British Isles in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 7.

Trained by Richard Baltas, British Isles was a game second in the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Del Mar on Nov. 22, and fifth at 83-1 in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26.

Fri, 02/27/2026 - 14:00

Jockey Del-Cid relocates to California

Ann Switalski/Hodges Photography
At the Delta Downs meeting that ended last Saturday, Del-Cid won 129 races from 449 mounts

Vicente Del-Cid, the leading rider at three of the last four Thoroughbred meetings at Delta Downs in Louisiana, has moved to Santa Anita.

This weekend, Del-Cid is booked on one mount on Friday, She’s a Joker in the fifth race, and one mount on Saturday, Tiegarten in the fourth race.

At the Delta Downs meeting that began in October and ended last Saturday, Del-Cid won 129 races from 449 mounts, an impressive 28.7 percent winning percentage. Joel Dominguez was a distant second with 53 wins.

Fri, 02/27/2026 - 13:12

Pietro Moran to ride at Gulfstream before Woodbine meet

Michael Burns
Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey Pietro Moran will ride at Gulfstream until the start of the Woodbine meet.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Pietro Moran, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey of 2025, will begin riding at Gulfstream Park on Sunday. He will ride here until Woodbine opens in April.

“Get some experience. Great colony here. Get a lot of experience, meet some trainers and owners and see what happens,” Moran said Thursday.

Moran is named on two horses on Sunday’s card, both for trainer Rachel Halden, a Woodbine-based trainer who winters in South Florida.

Fri, 02/27/2026 - 13:10

Davis returns with sights set on Keeneland meet

Barbara D. Livingston
Jockey Dylan Davis will return from injury with two mounts Saturday at Gulfstream.

Dylan Davis, who suffered multiple injuries including multiple broken ribs as well as having a kidney removed as the result of a spill at Aqueduct on Nov. 14, was scheduled to return to race-riding this weekend at Gulfstream Park.

Davis was named on two horses on Saturday’s 14-race card, including Public Defender in the Grade 3 Honey Fox. He will ride four horses on Sunday. On Friday, Davis was at the Palm Meadows training center, where he breezed five horses, including two on the turf.