Will VanMeter has disbanded his public stable after nearly six years of training. VanMeter, 37, said he was unsure what he will do next but did not rule out an eventual return to the horse business.
VanMeter said he and his wife, Kristin, have decided to “step away for a while” and that they are “excited about the next chapter in our lives.” He intended to issue a public release this week about the move.
MIAMI – Trainer Carlos David continued his outstanding Gulfstream Park West meeting when he sent out back-to-back Florida-bred stakes winners Saturday – the undefeated 2-year-old Shea D Summer in the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Fillies Sprint and the much-improved 3-year-old Legal Deal in the six-furlong Millions Sprint Preview.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gold Standard and the comebacking Whoa Nellie are among what figures to be a competitive group of fillies and mares for the weekend highlight at Churchill, the Grade 3, $100,000 Chilukki Stakes on Saturday.
Gold Standard was a sharp allowance winner earlier in the meet for Brad Cox. Whoa Nellie, a five-time winner in 10 career starts, will be making her first start in nine months. Whoa Nellie is trained by Larry Jones, who also intends to run Istan Council. Other probables include Chocolate Kisses, Finite, Grand Cru Classe, High Regard, and Sanenus.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Reylu Gutierrez, an Eclipse Award finalist for top apprentice in 2018, is moving his tack to Kentucky for the winter. Gutierrez will be represented by Jimmy McNerney during four months of racing at Turfway Park.
McNerney, the perennial top agent at Turfway, said Gutierrez will ride the last week or so of the Churchill meet prior to moving to Turfway. Gutierrez, 24, is a Rochester, N.Y., native who has competed mostly in New York and Florida in three years of riding.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Al Stall Jr. was hoping the month of November would represent the high point of his year, but it wasn’t to be. Tom’s d’Etat finished ninth in the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Classic before being whisked away to stud, providing a somber end to what had been a terrific couple of seasons with him as the stable star.
“It was great having him, but you’ve got to keep moving forward,” Stall said. “We’re racetrackers.”
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MIAMI – It came as no surprise that trainer Peter Walder and owner Paradise Farm Corp. won Saturday’s $60,000 Millions Distaff with a filly they recently added to the barn via the claim box. After all, when the entries came out, the red-hot Cory Gal looked like one of the top contenders, perhaps the favorite, in the six-furlong dash for Florida-bred fillies and mares.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Therapist, winner of Saturday’s $100,000 Artie Schiller Stakes at Aqueduct, could run one more time this year, trainer Christophe Clement said Sunday.
Clement said he would consider running Therapist in the $100,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship, a six-furlong race on Nov. 28, or he could point to a stakes at Gulfstream Park in December. If he doesn’t run again this year, the 5-year-old gelding will certainly be brought back for a 2021 campaign.
Astute, impressive winner of the Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday, will be considered for the Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos on Dec. 5 for her next start, trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday, while cautioning the three-week turnaround must be pondered.
“Might be too quick back. Might not. We’ll just have to play it by ear,” Mandella said.
The Starlet, restricted to fillies, is 21 days after the Desi Arnaz. Curiously, its counterpart, the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, is Dec. 19, 34 days after the Grade 3 Bob Hope, which was run Sunday at Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The only track in Southern California where horses are allowed to work on turf is Del Mar, which will host the stakes-filled turf festival in less than two weeks. That resulted in 29 horses working over the local course Sunday morning, including 10 each from the barns of Richard Baltas and Phil D’Amato.
“That’s why they’re here. They can work on grass,” Baltas said.
