OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Joel Rosario, the leading jockey in North America this year in purse money won, will be out for at least three weeks after suffering a hairline fracture of a rib in a spill Thursday at Aqueduct.
An optimistic expectation is that Rosario could return to ride the opening-day card on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, according to his agent, Ron Anderson.
“I think it’s more three weeks than five or six weeks,” Anderson said. “We’ll just have to bite the bullet a little bit.”
Gary Palmisano Sr., a former trainer and longtime paddock judge at Fair Grounds, died Dec. 1 in New Orleans.
Palmisano, 74, was diagnosed nearly 20 years ago with prostate cancer to which he eventually succumbed.
Palmisano made a late career change to become the paddock judge at Fair Grounds after a successful run that began during the 1970s as a Louisiana-based trainer, mainly at defunct Jefferson Downs in Kenner, La., and at Fair Grounds.
Emerald Downs is offering incentives to the owners and trainers of claiming horses at its 2022 meeting. The incentives are for any horse 3-year-old and up who has started for a claiming price at any track – including Emerald Downs – since Jan. 1, 2021.
Such horses will receive a $1,000 bonus ($750 to owner, $250 to trainer) in its first claiming start of the meeting, which begins May 15, 2022. The horse must start in the claiming race before July 1, 2022 to qualify for the bonus.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Visually, Nostalgic looked extremely impressive winning her debut by 7 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park on Oct. 22. But when the speed figures came back from the race, it didn’t seem so impressive. Nostalgic received just a 48 Beyer Speed Figure for a final time recorded as 1:47.36 for 1 1/16 miles.
“If you’re a sheets guy or a Beyer guy, it’s a little discouraging to see what kind of number she produced,” said Bill Mott, the trainer of Nostalgic. “Just to watch it, it looked good to me, and the rider liked it.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maiden winners Mo Donegal and Zandon head a field of eight entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile race that does not include a stakes winner.
After finishing third in his debut sprinting, Mo Donegal stretched out and won a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by 1 1/2 lengths on Oct. 21. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides the Todd Pletcher-trained Mo Donegal from the rail in the Remsen.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Brad Cox will be represented Saturday in the Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap with Lady Rocket, who will be attempting a mile for the first time. Lady Rocket, a daughter of Tale of the Cat, has won three races at seven furlongs, including the faster of two divisions of the Pumpkin Pie Stakes at Belmont on Oct. 31.
In deciding on a race for Lady Rocket, Cox said he was between the Go for Wand and the $100,000 Sugar Swirl going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 18.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – This year, trainer Brad Cox has won the Belmont Stakes, Travers, and Whitney, three of the biggest prizes on the New York Racing Association circuit. Saturday, Cox will attempt to snag the last Grade 1 stakes offered in New York in 2021 when he sends out Plainsman in the $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.
Plainsman won’t be favored like Essential Quality was in the Belmont and Travers or Knicks Go was in the Whitney, but he is in with a chance against the likes of Independence Hall, Following Sea, and Code of Honor.
Beyond Brilliant, who won the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar last Saturday, reminded trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Kent Desormeaux of his preferred running style in a workout earlier this year. Working in company with a stablemate, Beyond Brilliant wanted to be alone.
“Kent worked him and we tried to go with another horse,” Shirreffs recalled last Sunday. “Kent said he was pulling his arms out until he got a length in front of the other horse and then he relaxed.”
Three stakes winners and three stakes-placed runners are among the six probable starters in Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos. The $300,000 Starlet Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the last four runnings of the Starlet, will start the stakes winners Eda and Grace Adler and the stakes-placed Benedict Canyon.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Entertainment has announced that the 163rd running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate, the opening leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, will be run next year on Sunday, Aug. 21, at Woodbine.
North America’s oldest annually run stakes, the Queen’s Plate had been held in late June before pandemic-related lockdowns forced the race to be delayed to September in 2020 and to Aug. 22 this year.
This year’s Queen’s Plate, which was won by New York shipper Safe Conduct, generated the second-highest wagering handle in the race’s history.
