OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Big Brown won his maiden on turf but became better known for his exploits on dirt when he won the 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
Trainer David Donk isn’t thinking that big with Geno, but he is hopeful the 2-year-old by Big Brown will take to the dirt like his father when he runs in Saturday’s $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Life after Maxfield, who closed his outstanding career with a victory in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap last month at Churchill Downs, will not be easy for trainer Brendan Walsh. But it will go on for Walsh, who on Saturday sends out his first two stakes runners of the local season, including the Grade 1-caliber Space Traveller in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale.
The Maryland Racing Commission on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to Laurel Park to return to live racing on Thursday after surveying racing constituents’ opinions on a recent renovation to the track’s dirt racing surface.
During a virtual meeting, the commission received feedback from a number of trainers, jockeys, and racing-surface experts who had been hired by Laurel’s parent company to supervise renovations on the track beginning earlier this month. All of those who spoke indicated that they were confident that the renovations have resulted in a much safer racetrack.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Probably the most surprising news of the past weekend came late Sunday afternoon when agent Tito Fuentes revealed that his jockey Edgard Zayas had just ridden his last mount until the spring and would undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair his injured left shoulder Monday morning.
Zayas has certainly showed no signs of any issues throughout the 2021 season, having won 225 races, including 11 since the Championship meet opened earlier this month. He is second in the Gulfstream jockey standings, just one win behind Paco Lopez.
Maryland racing officials are confident that Laurel Park will return to live racing beginning Thursday after a more than two-week hiatus to address inconsistencies in the dirt track, the general counsel to the state’s horsemen said Monday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Juan Vazquez and Mitch Friedman aren’t names typically seen atop the trainer standings at a New York Racing Association meet. But through the first week of Aqueduct’s four-month winter session, Vazquez is the leader with four wins followed by Friedman with three.
All four of Vazquez’s wins came last Friday with Cazilda Fortytales ($8), and favorites My Roxy Girl ($4.90), Repo Rocks ($7.20) and El Mayor ($7).
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Rudy Rodriguez has given several of his top horses a break for the winter, but he will press on with Magic Circle, the third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Demoiselle. Rodriguez said the $100,000 Busanda on Jan. 23 is on her schedule.
Magic Circle finished third behind Nest and Venti Valentine in the Demoiselle, coming out under a left-handed whip and nearly interfering with Venti Valentine.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The first stakes of Aqueduct’s winter meet didn’t go as trainer Rob Atras had hoped, with Sadie Lady finishing fourth in last Saturday’s $100,000 Garland of Roses.
Atras will hope for better results this weekend when he runs Chateau in Sunday’s $100,000 Gravesend Stakes and the pair of Olliemyboy and You’re to Blame in the $125,000 Queens County, also on Sunday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The first time Safe Conduct ever stepped on a synthetic racetrack, he liked it so much he went out and won the $1 million Queen’s Plate on Aug. 22 at Woodbine. The second time came late Monday morning at Gulfstream Park, where Safe Conduct worked an easy five furlongs in 1:00.72 with exercise rider Lisa Bartkowski aboard.
The work was the first for Safe Conduct since his second-place finish behind Never Surprised on the turf in the Gio Ponti Stakes on Nov. 26 at Aqueduct. He is prepping for the Tropical Park Derby on turf here Dec. 26.
The Louisiana Racing Commission on Monday voted to postpone for 30 days action on Delta Downs’s request to resume night racing on Fridays and Saturdays after jockeys raised concerns about the new track lighting system, which has undergone upgrades. Delta will continue with daytime posts from Wednesdays through Saturdays.
