California

Sprinting for the first time in her career, Gingham (Quality Road) was the recipient of a supremely confident Mike Smith ride and jumped out of the ground at the eighth pole, rolling past her chief market rival Been Studying Her (Fast Anna) to register an impressive victory in Saturday's Angels Flight S. at Santa Anita. Not surprisingly beaten for speed and last after breaking from gate one, the $420,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase rode the rails into the stretch while in hand. Been Studying Her struck to the lead approaching...

With Del Mar's annual summer meet looming large on the horizon, news out of the track has arrived thick and fast this week. On Thursday, Del Mar announced that it plans to begin racing a week earlier than scheduled on July 10--pending approval from the California Horse Racing Board--and that the predominantly three-day race weeks will end with a four-day race week on Labor Day, Sept. 7. On Friday, the track announced its $5.5-million stakes schedule, which this year includes a GI Kentucky Derby stepping-stone in the shape of the...

Officials at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club announced that the track will conduct racing on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule through the entire summer and have pushed forward opening day from July 18 to July 10. The track will close with a four-day week ending on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. The schedule is pending the approval of the California Horse Racing Board at its June 11 meeting. "We're coming back and we're going to put on the most unique show in Del Mar history," said Del Mar's CEO Joe Harper. "It's...

Santa Anita may not be running, but that hasn't kept a number of horsemen from finding ways to win races and earn money for their owners. With Santa Anita shutting down Mar. 29, more and more Thoroughbreds are finding their way to Los Alamitos, where the track has been carding more races suited to Thoroughbreds. For Los Alamitos, that has meant more races, full fields and record handle numbers. "The purses aren't what we are used to at Santa Anita, but they're more than if you just breeze them," said...

One day after the bombshell announcement that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York had filed indictments against 27 Thoroughbred veterinarians and trainers for an array of drug offenses, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) released its long-awaited report on the 23 equine catastrophic injuries that marred Santa Anita during the first few months of its 2018-2019 winter-spring meet. The resulting report provides not only an extremely detailed dive into the multi-factorial nature of the causes behind these catastrophic injuries, but a lengthy series of recommendations...

In 2016, just a few months after completing a championship season with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Nyquist (Uncle Mo) made the first start of his 3-year-old season in the GII San Vicente S. before adding the GI Florida Derby and GI Kentucky Derby. Reigning Eclipse Award winner Storm the Court (Court Vision) will look to emulate that success by kicking off his season in the seven-furlong test Sunday afternoon at Santa Anita. The bay colt defeated 1-5 Garth (Into Mischief) in his Aug. 10 bow over...

The first foals by GSW Prospect Park (Tapit--Quiet Romance, by Bertrando) arrived almost simultaneously Feb. 1 at Harris Farms. Classy Lady Liz (Papa Clem) delivered a colt for breeder Dana Rocheford and Cloud of Glory (Beau Genius) had a colt for breeder John Harris. The farm also welcomed a filly by Prospect Park Monday out of Quick Luck (Lucky J. H.). Prospect Park stands at Harris Farms in California for $2,500.

When condition book three for the Santa Anita winter/spring meet came online Jan. 29, conspicuously absent were any races for Thursday, Feb. 6. Track officials confirmed Friday that racing has in fact been canceled for that afternoon, meaning there will be no live Thursday programs until Feb. 27. In January it was announced that the track would be dark Feb. 13 and 20. There is holiday racing scheduled for Monday, Feb. 17. The California horse population has been on the decline for some time and the local product has faced...

Golden Gate Fields has cancelled racing for the rest of the week after repairs from a gas leak in the area surrounding the track damaged the facility's hot water system. In addition to affecting food and beverage at the track, the issue impacts backstretch workers and the track is installing portable hot water showers for them during the repair process. "There is no concern of a gas leak at Golden Gate Fields," said David Duggan, Vice President & General Manager, Golden Gate Fields. "Unfortunately, there was a leak in the...

Bob Baffert has two strong chances to win his sixth edition of the GIII Sham S. Saturday with Authentic (Into Mischief) and Azul Coast (Super Saver). A $350,000 KEESEP buy, Authentic graduated at first asking sprinting at Del Mar Nov. 9, earning an 87 Beyer Speed Figure in the process. His stablemate Azul Coast also donned cap and gown at first asking, albeit going a mile at Los Alamitos Dec. 8. The Richard Baltas-trained Taishan (Twirling Candy) boasts the second highest Beyer in the field, registering an 81 for his...

Given events at Santa Anita in the spring, it was understandable that Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens approached the track's annual summer meet with both hope and a certain amount of trepidation. In the end, the track achieved what Jerkens called "unprecedented"--the entire seven week, 36-card meet played out with zero race-day fatalities. That works out to 0 for 2,372 starts. Of the four catastrophic injuries sustained during morning training, two were the result of a freak accident involving a loose horse. It's important to note that these numbers...