OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Geno, winner of the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series, and Happy Medium, a promising older sprinter who finished third in the Grade 3 Toboggan, had to be euthanized last week in separate training incidents over the Belmont Park training track.
Geno, a 3-year-old son of Big Brown, was euthanized Saturday after a gallop over the training track, according to trainer David Donk.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Officiating, the 7-1 upset winner of the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream Park in December, has been confirmed by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. as a starter for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap.
Officiating, a son of Blame, will be cutting back to six furlongs for the first time in what will be the 16th start in his career. He is coming off a third-place finish behind Speaker’s Corner and Fearless in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper going a mile on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rockefeller, who last fall shipped from Southern California to New York to win the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Belmont Park, will again ship cross-country for Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Monday.
The Gotham, like the Nashua, is run as a one-turn mile.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose D’Angelo capped a recent torrid streak by winning four races Saturday, including three at Gulfstream Park, giving him seven winners for the week (Feb. 23-27). One of those winners was Duel Fuel on Saturday night at Turfway Park, where D’Angelo also has a foothold.
“My best week since I began training in the U.S.A.,” said a jubilant D’Angelo, a 31-year-old native of Venezuela.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The most recent prep for the Kentucky Derby yielded a 75-1 winner when Un Ojo won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park last Saturday.
A similar result Saturday in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park would be far-fetched, but with an expected full gate of 12, there will be some real longshots in the field, if only by mathematical necessity.
Rocco Bowen received a hero’s farewell. Bowen has left Tampa Bay Downs for the season, but not before being honored by a local sponsor as the jockey of the month for February.
Bowen, 32, rode a winner Sunday before departing for his native Barbados to visit his mother and other family members. He will be off several weeks before returning to suburban Chicago, where he has his home, to start riding at the Hawthorne meet that starts April 3.
Bernabreezy likely will get her second stakes try this Fair Grounds season in the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 26. The 3-year-old filly nicely won a Dec. 20 maiden dirt-route, earning a Jan. 22 start in the Silverbulletday Stakes, where she loomed in upper stretch before fading to third.
Bernabreezy returned Feb. 18 in a first-level Fair Grounds allowance race and won by two lengths, matching her career-best 76 Beyer Speed Figure and pushing her way back into stakes competition.
Jackie’s Warrior, champion male sprinter of 2021, had his first timed workout as a 4-year-old, going an easy half-mile in 52.80 seconds on Sunday at Fair Grounds.
Jackie’s Warrior won the Pat Day Mile, the Amsterdam, the Allen Jerkens over Life Is Good, and the Gallant Bob before finishing sixth as the 1-2 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He subsequently underwent surgery to repair a chipped knee, and given that he already is back working, the procedure went smoothly.
Proxy is headed back to stakes competition following his sharp second-level allowance race win Friday at Fair Grounds.
Starting for the first time since April 10, Proxy raced about seven lengths behind a fast pace in this two-turn dirt contest before closing on the leaders around the far turn. Racing with a focus and determination he hadn’t shown as a 3-year-old, Proxy stormed to the lead and drew away to a 3 3/4-length victory. He ran 1 1/16 miles in a swift 1:42.45 and got a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December but only sixth of 10 in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 9 at Keeneland, trainer Doug O’Neill said over the weekend.
The Blue Grass is one of the leading preps for the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.
