INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Battle-tested at Santa Anita against the best fillies in the nation in the Breeders' Cup, Victory U. S. A. has found the competition easier at Hollywood Park this fall.
She won her first stakes in the Moccasin Stakes over seven furlongs Nov. 16, a race that trainer Bob Baffert described as an ideal prep to Sunday's $355,000 for 2-year-old fillies.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone will be sidelined until January after a CT scan taken on Thursday showed fractures to two ribs in her upper chest. The fractures did not appear on X-rays taken after she was involved in a spill at Hollywood Park on Dec. 12.
The fractures occurred in her first two ribs, according to Dr. Tom Harris, an orthopedic surgeon based in Del Mar.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If Shake You Down were able to relax, he would be hanging out in his stall on Sunday, instead of running in the $100,000 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct.
After Shake You Down finished second in the Grade 1 De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park on Nov. 15, trainer Scott Lake planned on giving the gelding a freshening. When Shake You Down, who has run 12 times this year, had a difficult time winding down, Lake began training him with the Grade 3 Gravesend in mind.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Stalwart Member, a constant presence on the New York racing scene since 1995, has been retired.
The popular New York-bred finished second in his last start on Dec. 13 at Aqueduct in a $7,500 claiming race, the bottom of the ladder in New York. In the paddock before the race, Stalwart Member's co-owner, Sanford Goldfarb, said the 10-year-old gelding was physically sound but would be retired after he ran.
MIAMI - Man From Wicklow is the 121-pound co-highweight along with Balto Star for the $150,000 W.L. McKnight Handicap, but chances are the reigning champ will not be back to defend his title in the Grade 2 race, one of four stakes on next Saturday's Grand Slam II program.
"He's 50-50 at best to run," owner-trainer Rick Violette Jr. said by phone from New York on Wednesday - and he went on to admit that the chances are probably even lower than that. Man From Wicklow would be coming back from an eight-month vacation in the 1 1/2-mile McKnight.
NEW ORLEANS - There was good news and bad from trainer Dallas Stewart's Fair Grounds barn this week, with Saintly Look revving up for stakes racing here, and Mach Speed, a highly regarded 2-year-old colt, resting on a Kentucky farm, unlikely to run during the Fair Grounds meet.
Saintly Look came to prominence at Fair Grounds last season, with wins in the Sugar Bowl and the Grade 3 Lecomte. But after losses in the Louisiana Derby and Lane's End, Saintly Look broke a blood vessel in his hind leg. The injury is rare and requires substantial rest to fully mend.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer may have the top two or three - or even four or five - 2-year-olds on the grounds at Golden Gate Fields, and all, except for Dixieland Heater, are fillies.
Wildwood Flower, the winner the Piedmont Stakes and the best 2-year-old at Golden Gate, will probably make her two-turn debut in the Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Jan. 4, although she will be nominated to next Saturday's $60,000-added Corte Madera at one mile.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - An eye-catching six-length win in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Stakes on Nov. 15 made Lion Heart a 2-year-old to follow.
A win on Saturday in the Grade 1, $362,000 at Hollywood Park will put him firmly on the Triple Crown trail that will unfold in coming months.
Unbeaten in two starts, Lion Heart will be heavily favored in the Futurity, run over 1 1/16 miles. Trained by Patrick Biancone for Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, Lion Heart faces his first test beyond seven furlongs. His trainer said the colt is ready.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The 11 fillies and mares in Saturday's $150,000 Dahlia Handicap at Hollywood Park are so evenly matched that a case can be made for nearly any of them to wind up in the winner's circle.
Atlantic Ocean, Betty's Wish, Blind Ambition, Katdogawn, Hoh Buzzard, and Moscow Burning have won stakes this year.
Adalgisa and Personal Legend have yet to win stakes but have run well in important races in recent months. A win by Innit, Valdoura, or Voz de Colegiala would be considered a surprise.
