OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Manny Franco won six races on Thursday’s card at Aqueduct, one shy of the record set by Flavien Prat last November.
On a day when favorites won eight of the nine races, Franco rode five of those favorites and the one second choice who won on the card.
Mesquite, runner-up in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, is off the Kentucky Derby trail with what is suspected to be a soft-tissue injury, trainer Cherie DeVaux said Thursday.
Mesquite breezed Jan. 30 at Fair Grounds but has not had a workout since. DeVaux said Mesquite will be examined by Dr. Larry Bramlage in Kentucky next week.
“He’s off the Derby trail,” DeVaux said. “It’s something we’ve been monitoring. Dr. Bramlage needs to see the horse and come up with a plan.”
Mesquite was removed from betting for this weekend's Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
The $8,600 purse of a $4,000 claiming race at Los Alamitos in September has been ordered redistributed by Santa Anita stewards after race winner Crazy About You was disqualified for a positive test, according to a ruling published by Santa Anita stewards on Feb. 7.
Crazy About You tested positive for the banned analgesic tramadol, according to the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit website.
The multiple stakes winners Queen Maxima and Splendora have had successful starts to their 2026 seasons at Santa Anita, and have local stakes as next-race goals in the coming weeks and months ahead.
Splendora won her third consecutive stakes in the Grade 2 D. Wayne Lukas Stakes for fillies and mares last Saturday in a prep race for the Grade 1 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on March 7.
“That would be the most logical spot for her,” trainer Bob Baffert said last weekend.
Stella Thayer’s first memory of what is now Tampa Bay Downs came when she was 11 years old, going there with a friend whose father ran the track at the time when it was known as Sunshine Park.
“As minors, we could not go in, so we stood on the roof of the car and watched the races,” said Thayer, now 85.
Mark Casse has a similar first memory. As a young teenager, Casse came to the track with his father, a trainer, but also was not allowed inside.
Perfect Shot, who won the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic over a strong field last month at Sam Houston, is being discussed for a possible start in the Azeri at Oaklawn Park, trainer Steve Asmussen said last week. The Grade 2, $400,000 race is March 7.
Perfect Shot was up for a half-length win in the 1 1/16-mile Ladies Classic for Whisper Hill Farm.
“Solid mare, ran her best race to date,” Asmussen said.
Asmussen said the 5-year-old is improving with age, which tends to be the case with the offspring of her sire, Gun Runner.
Brad and Sharon Kleven will jump onto the Kentucky Derby trail Sunday with recent auction purchase Express Kid, the 3-1 morning line favorite for the $500,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park.
Express Kid brought $800,000 during a Fasig-Tipton digital flash sale last month and was sent to trainer Justin Evans. The horse won the $300,000 Springboard Mile and earned 10 points for the Kentucky Derby in December at Remington Park for trainer Wade Rarick. Express Kid was then moved to Turf Paradise.
Buetane, who ran third in last week’s Grade 3, $1 million Southwest at Oaklawn, has returned home to Southern California, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert.
Baffert said Monday that plans for the horse have yet to be determined. Buetane was Grade 1-placed in September, when he ran second in the Hopeful, won by eventual champion Ted Noffey. Buetane, who is by Tiz the Law, was making his two-turn debut in the Southwest.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The retirement party for the stakes-winning mare Mrs. Astor is on hold.
Trainer Jonathan Thomas said on Wednesday that Mrs. Astor is scheduled to start in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes for fillies and mares on March 15 and is a candidate for the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on May 25.
“We’ll look at the Santa Ana,” he said. “There is talk about not retiring her and circling the Gamely and see how we can get to that. She’s doing very well. We’re talking about it.”
Butch Reid has hit a rough patch with Maximus Meridius, but the trainer said he has not lost an ounce of faith in the 5-year-old gelding. Looking to keep him close to home, Reid decided to pull him out of the $150,000 Toboggan at Aqueduct last Saturday, where he would have opened as the 7-2 third choice.
Reid instead entered him in a $55,000 allowance at Parx Racing on Wednesday, Feb. 4, but the Pennsylvania-bred struggled to overcome a troubled trip and finished fifth. He was later promoted to fourth because of a disqualification.
