Sun, 01/02/2022 - 17:57

Jockey Ellingwood out until mid-January with concussion

ARCADIA, Calif. - Apprentice jockey Emily Ellingwood will be sidelined until mid-January after suffering a concussion when she was unseated in deep stretch in the second race at Santa Anita on Friday.

Ellingwood said she will not ride the upcoming weekend, but hopes to return to riding later in the month.

“I’m going to take it easy for the next week,” Ellingwood said Sunday.

Sun, 01/02/2022 - 17:49

Luck, Lighthouse make for global New Year's celebration for Foxwoods

Coady Photography
Lighthouse is expected to run in Saturday's Las Cienegas Stakes at six furlongs on turf. She is shown winning the Music City Stakes at Kentucky Downs in September.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Globally, New Year’s Day was a milestone racing holiday for Larry, Nancy and Jaime Roth’s LNJ Foxwoods Stable. Not many stables win stakes in Australia and California on the same calendar day.

On Saturday at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, the 5-year-old Kentucky-bred mare Lighthouse remained unbeaten in four starts in Australia with a victory in the $115,900 Chester Manifold Stakes at seven furlongs.

At Santa Anita, Luck won her first stakes in the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares.

Sun, 01/02/2022 - 14:17

Dash Attack, after Smarty Jones victory, points to Southwest Stakes

Coady Photography
Dash Attack gana con comodidad el Smarty Jones S.

The unbeaten Dash Attack was in good order Sunday following his clear win in the $250,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park and will target the track’s Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest, trainer Ken McPeek said.

The Southwest, at 1 1/16 miles, will be run Jan. 29.

Dash Attack has won both of his starts, and both have come at Oaklawn. He accounted for a maiden special weight at a mile on opening weekend, then came back and picked up 10 points for the Kentucky Derby in the Smarty Jones.

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 17:13

Jockeys Vargas, Samuel test positive for COVID-19

Barbara D. Livingston
Jorge Vargas Jr. won 28 races at the Aqueduct winter meet before being injured.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockeys Jorge Vargas Jr. and Jalon Samuel both tested positive for COVID-19 and will be off their mounts at Aqueduct this weekend, according to a release from the New York Racing Association.

Vargas, who was not named to ride at Aqueduct Friday, was scheduled to ride five horses Saturday, including Hagler in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes. He was named on two horses Sunday. Samuel was taken off his one mount Friday and his other mount scratched. Samuel had two mounts Saturday and one Sunday.

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 15:58

Santa Anita will seed late pick five pool on Sunday with $50K

Barbara D. Livingston
The money Santa Anita is adding to the late pick five pool on Sunday is a thank you to racing fans following a difficult, weather impacted, opening week.

Santa Anita is adding $50,000 to the pool of the 50-cent late pick five on Sunday, officials announced on Friday.

In a statement, the track said the bonus money to the pool is an expression of gratitude toward racing fans for support through opening week of the winter-spring meeting, which was disrupted by poor weather.

There was no turf racing on the Dec. 26 program because of rain in the preceding days. Rain after lunch on Monday led to the transfer of turf races to the main track midway through the program.

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 14:56

Cardenas making progress as he rehabs from July spill

Barbara D. Livingston
Jockey Luis Cardenas was injured during a spill in Saratoga's final race on Friday.

When jockey Luis Cardenas was injured in a spill at Saratoga in July, it was presumed he would miss only a couple of weeks. Six months later and Cardenas has still not returned to the saddle, but he is progressing.

Cardenas, who suffered more serious head trauma than initially reported, said he is scheduled to meet with a neurologist in the third week in January. At that consultation, he is hoping to get cleared to begin getting on horses again with the goal of returning to race-riding in February.

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 14:56

Nevin being patient as Happy Medium recovers from latest win

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Happy Medium, shown winning a Sept. 30 maiden race, has won his last two starts by a combined 14 1/4 lengths.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Happy Medium is arguably the fastest horse on the grounds in New York, but his connections are in no hurry to plot out the gelding’s next race.

On Dec. 18, Happy Medium recorded his third consecutive blowout victory, taking a second-level allowance by seven lengths. He ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.88 and earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure, equaling the figure earned for his 9 1/4-length maiden win on Sept. 30 at Belmont Park.

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 14:36

American Oaks, Mathis Brothers Mile keep their graded status

Benoit photo
Queen Goddess has now won 3 of 6 starts with Sunday's triumph in the American Oaks.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The graded stakes classifications of two stakes run at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 – the American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies and Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds – have been restored to their original status by an oversight committee after the races were switched from turf to dirt because of inclement weather.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 14:30

Flightline returns to the racetrack

Benoit Photos
Flightline coasts to an easy victory in the Runhappy Malibu Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Flightline, the brilliant and undefeated 3-year-old sprinter, was jogged at Santa Anita on Friday, his first day of racetrack exercise following a win by 11 1/2 lengths in his stakes debut in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs on Dec. 26.

Trained by John Sadler, Flightline is unbeaten in three starts by a combined 37 1/2 lengths. Sadler said earlier this week that Flightline will be raced sparingly in 2022 and does not have an immediate race goal. The colt had his debut at Santa Anita last April.

Fri, 12/31/2021 - 14:26

Bell's the One set to join Pessin stable

Coady Photography
Bell's the One returned $3.60 as the favorite in the Dream Supreme at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

The end of 2021 treated trainer Neil Pessin pretty well. Happy American came within an inch of winning his first stakes in the Dec. 27 Tenacious, and a day later Audrey’s Time was much the best in the Spanky Broussard Memorial. And on Jan. 4, Pessin will welcome stable star Bell’s the One back into his Fair Grounds barn.