ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Michael McCarthy won his third stakes at Santa Anita this month with Mondego in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes on Saturday.
The stable could add to that tally soon.
This Sunday, McCarthy will be represented in the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf by Stark Contrast, who leads the division in California.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The handicap division got a little stronger Saturday as a result of the performances by Grande and Praetor in a one-mile allowance at Gulfstream Park.
Both 4-year-olds had been sidelined since April. They finished first and second, with Grande winning by three-quarters of a length. The pair earned Beyer Speed Figures of 105 and 103. They did so despite completing the final furlong of the race down near the rail in what has been the deepest part of the racetrack.
Grande is trained by Todd Pletcher. Praetor is conditioned by Chad Brown.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Bill Mott reports that Thunderously, one of his top 3-year-old prospects, will be sidelined indefinitely due to an undisclosed issue. Thunderously was an instant sensation here earlier this winter when capturing his career debut by five lengths going 1 1/16 miles, earning an 88 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
“He’s going to be out for a while, at this point I’m not sure just for how long,” Mott said. “The Triple Crown was going to be a rush anyway.”
Little Thunder may not be in the league of Book’em Danno or Just Beat the Odds, but he has gotten his career off to a solid start, winning two of his first three starts. On Saturday, he won a first-level allowance race by 7 3/4 lengths at Tampa, running six furlongs in 1:08.95, just .28 off the 14-year-old track record. He earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
“You never really expect it but it didn’t really shock me the way that horse was going,” trainer Tim Hamm said. “He’s shown up every time.”
Just Beat the Odds did his preparations at Tampa this winter before he finished a terrific second, three-quarters of a length behind Imagination in the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint.
Trainer Gregg Sacco said he was proud of his colt’s effort after he set the pace and put away two pace challengers only to get nailed late by Imagination.
Sacco said Just Beat the Odds would return to the U.S. on Saturday, then spend about six weeks at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland before shipping to Saratoga when that backstretch opens in mid-April.
While neither Imagination nor Just Beat the Odds – the two U.S.-based sprinters who finished one-two in the Riyadh Dirt Stakes in Saudi Arabia last weekend – are heading to Dubai for next month’s $2 million Golden Shaheen, another prominent U.S.-based sprinter is now being considered for the lucrative race.
Book’em Danno, the reigning Eclipse champion sprinter, is “way ahead of schedule” in his training, trainer Derek Ryan said Monday and the Golden Shaheen is now in play for the New Jersey-bred gelding’s 5-year-old debut.
An overflow field of 13 3-year-olds – 12 may start – were entered for the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial on Feb. 21 at Turfway, a Kentucky Derby points race.
The main body of the field is headed by Street Beast, winner of the one-mile Leonatus Stakes last month at Turfway. Runner-up Fulleffort also returns.
The 1 1/16-mile Battaglia, which awards Derby points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis, is the local prep toward the Grade 3, $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 21, which awards points on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10.
Honor Marie will point to next month’s Grade 3, $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park after finishing full of run in a 4 1/2-length victory in the Dust Commander Stakes at the Florence, Ky., track last Saturday night.
“That’s 100 percent the target now,” trainer Whit Beckman said Monday. “If he didn’t run well there, we were going to Virginia, but now that he ran well, we’re definitely going to run back there.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Morley believes the turf stakes winner Attfield is ready to make his 3-year-old debut. Morley does not believe it wise to have Attfield make his first start off a layoff also be his first start on dirt. There are no turf races Morley sees that entice him.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Baeza, one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds of 2025, will be transferred to a trainer based outside of California this month following the unexpected death on Thursday of trainer John Shirreffs, majority owner Lee Searing said on Friday.
Speaking at Shirreffs’s barn on the Santa Anita backstretch, Searing said he plans to consult with Robert Clay, whose Grandview Equine owns a minority share of Baeza, before finalizing a decision.
