From Remington Park in the spring to Los Alamitos in early summer and Ruidoso Downs on Labor Day weekend, Monty Arrossa has won major stakes to secure his position among the nation’s leading Quarter Horse trainers this year.
What happens over the next three months, largely at Los Alamitos, will determine whether the 47-year-old Arrossa secures his first national training championship and whether his top runners earn division titles.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Dr. Schivel on Tuesday made the walk from the barn of his original trainer, Luis Mendez, over to the far northeast corner of the stable area at Del Mar, where Mark Glatt is based. Glatt now takes over as the trainer of the newly minted Grade 1 winner of the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Monday, and in coming weeks will map out a plan to get him to his main goal this fall, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.
It's not impossible that the Juvenile will be the first start for Glatt.
Indiana Grand Racecourse and Casino and director of racing Kevin Greely parted ways last week. Indiana Grand’s vice president and general manager racing Eric Halstrom confirmed the end of Greely’s tenure on Tuesday while declining to provide details on the departure. Halstrom said Indiana Grand actively is seeking a replacement for Greely.
Greely came to Indiana Grand, called Indiana Downs at the time, in 2013. He had previously worked in similar capacities at Arlington and in the United Arab Emirates.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – At the halfway point of 109-day Woodbine meet, Justin Stein is battling for leading rider honors with Rafael Hernandez, who many regarded as the heir apparent to the now-retired perennial leader Eurico Da Silva. Through Sunday, they were tied with 74 wins apiece.
Stein’s success is something that even he was surprised by, because it was only last year when he came out of a three-year retirement and moved back to Toronto from his native British Columbia.
Del Mar completed a 27-day summer meeting on Monday, the first without paying spectators, with a gain in all-sources handle boosted by account wagering, according to data released by the track.
The coronavirus pandemic left Del Mar without its typical large enthusiastic audience and with a revamped schedule of racing largely on a Friday-through-Sunday basis over a nine-week season that began on July 10. The track lost the weekend of July 17-19 because of a coronavirus outbreak in the jockeys' room, but later added two days of racing on Mondays as compensation.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association’s confidence in the brand that is Saratoga was rewarded with box-office business at the 2020 meet despite the inability to have fans ontrack due to restrictions owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All-sources handle for the 40-day meet that ended Monday was $702,535,468, the second highest in the history of the track. Only last year was higher with $705,343,949. This year’s meet consisted of 40 full cards. Last year, one full card and half of another were canceled due to weather.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gary Young has established a well-deserved reputation as one of the top clockers on the West Coast, and his eye has been relied upon for numerous purchases over the years, going back to the likes of 1993 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Brocco and right through this year’s Ashland winner, Speech.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Vequist don’t have any concerns about distance for their 2-year-old filly. That’s one of the reasons they weren’t against stretching her out from 4 1/2 furlongs to seven furlongs in Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga.
After Vequist romped to a 9 1/2-length victory in the Spinaway, she will go a little farther next time in either in the Grade 1 Frizette going a mile on Oct. 10 at Belmont or the Grade 1, $350,000 Alcibiades going 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 2 at Keeneland.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dunbar Road, who missed some training time due to a minor issue, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $150,000 Beldame on Oct. 4 at Belmont Park, trainer Chad Brown said.
On Sunday, Dunbar Road put in a solid five-furlong workout in 1:00.92 over Saratoga’s main track. She was under a hold as she got her last quarter in 23.29 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.74.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Overshadowed by the Kentucky Derby and other graded stakes at Churchill Downs and elsewhere Saturday was the performance of Analyze It, who came off a 22-month layoff to win the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths under Joe Bravo at Monmouth Park.
Analyze It, trained by Chad Brown for Bill Lawrence, was making his first start since he finished third to Expert Eye in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November 2018.
