Jockey Kent Desormeaux will finish outside of the top 15 in the jockey standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that ends on Sunday.
For the 55-year-old Hall of Famer, the results are not good enough. He yearns for more activity, and more mounts in a year in which he is attempting to rejuvenate a fascinating, and sometimes troubled, career.
Through Thursday, Desormeaux had won 7 races from 35 mounts at Santa Anita since Dec. 26, good enough for a respectable 20 percent win rate.
Johannes, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the outstanding turf male of 2024, returned to trainer Tim Yakteen’s stable at Santa Anita last weekend after a rest of more than two months on a Kentucky farm.
Johannes is expected to have a summer and fall campaign geared toward a start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1. Last November, Johannes was second by three-quarters of a length to More Than Looks in the BC Mile, his only loss in a six-race campaign that included five graded stakes wins.
Trainer Tom Morley has a couple of fast 3-year-olds that he wants to run at six furlongs, which is why he will likely have look out of town for next starts for One Nine Hundred and Paula’s a Star.
One Nine Hundred, a seven-length maiden winner on March 29 at Aqueduct, will likely be pointed to the $150,000 Chick Lang Stakes at Laurel Park on May 17. Paula’s a Star, third against males in the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct, will be aimed at the Grade 3, $150,000 Miss Preakness Stakes on May 16.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bernieandtherose, a New York-bred 3-year-old filly who has won four straight, including a pair of stakes, was forced to miss Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle Stakes due to a cough, trainer Dominick Schettino said.
On March 28, Bernieandtherose worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Belmont Park, but shortly thereafter started to cough. Schettino, not wanting to take any chances, decided to not even enter.
“She’s fine, didn’t have to miss any training, just had to pass it,” Schettino said. “It’s a long year.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hill Road, who had to scratch from Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial due to a fever, will remain in consideration for several spots, including the Kentucky Derby, depending on how quickly he rebounds, trainer Chad Brown said Friday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - With a dire forecast for the rest of the week in Kentucky prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency, Keeneland has shifted the first two cards of its spring meet on Friday and Saturday back three days each.
In a release issued Wednesday evening, Keeneland said it will monitor track conditions but plans to run Sunday's card as scheduled. That program will now serve as opening day of the 15-day spring meet, with the Grade 2, $400,000 Beaumont and the $300,000 Palisades as the co-features.
Overnight purses will increase at the forthcoming Santa Anita spring and Los Alamitos summer meetings.
Santa Anita’s spring meeting runs from April 18 to June 15. The Los Alamitos summer meeting begins a three-week season on June 20. Both tracks will have higher prize money than the corresponding meetings in 2024.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The sun will not be shining bright on the old Kentucky home as Keeneland opens its spring meet Friday. The early focus will still be on the sophomores looking to run through April showers to May flowers.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced changes to its condition book that will take effect in May. Among the changes, a new state-restricted maiden special weight condition will be added to Laurel cards, while prices for various claiming conditions will be adjusted.
“We’re of the position that we’re going to try things,” Bill Knauf, president and general manager of TMJC, said Tuesday. “If they don’t work, then they don’t work, but we’d rather try it than not try it and see how it progresses.”
The eighth race on Monday at Parx Racing was declared a no contest when a loose horse running in the wrong direction had to be caught in the stretch. Thanks to the heroics of outriders Filemon Gonzalez and Facundo Vaio, as well as jockey Frankie Pennington, no one was seriously harmed in the incident.
Turning for home with a short lead, Pennington’s first thought was that his horse, Showtime Matinee, had plenty left for the stretch run. That thought was immediately interrupted by blaring sirens, flashing lights, and the sight of three horses barreling toward him.
