Los Alamitos

Sometimes a prohibitive 3-5 favorite doesn't run his or her race, but sometimes one runs just as hoped and adds a cherry on top. Last-out GI Beholder Mile Stakes winner and Pamela C. Ziebarth homebred Sweet Azteca (f, 4, Sharp Azteca--So Sweetitiz, by Grand Slam) not only made it three in a row with a facile win in Saturday's GII Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos, but also set a new track record at Los Al for the distance, getting the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.33. At the Great...

8th-Los Alamitos, $43,000, Msw, 6-30, 2yo, f, 5f, :57.48, ft, 1 3/4 lengths A. Z. WILDCAT (f, 2, Munnings--Lucky Long, by Lookin At Lucky) prevailed in a good pari-mutuel battle and then backed it up on the track in professional style to open her account as the narrow 2-1 favorite. The $200,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase brike a bit inward, but was up to press the early issue before sitting the pocket trip from third around the hairpin turn. Produced three wide into the stretch, the filly went to the...

The Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth, scheduled to be run Sunday, is contested annually at a mile-and-one-sixteenth on the turf and is for 3-year-old fillies. With those conditions, it should be an easy race to fill. Not this year. The racing office did not get enough entries and the race was scrapped. Not that any of this should come as a surprise. There is a glut of racing in the Mid-Atlantic states. When Colonial Downs opens on July 11, there will be eight Mid-Atlantic tracks running within a range of...

1st-Los Alamitos, $42,500, Msw, 6-29, 2yo, 5f, :57.90, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. MISCHIEF RIVER (c, 2, Into Mischief--Candy Drawer, by Candy Ride {Arg}) was overlooked as a 7-1 shot for his debut here in favor of fellow 'TDN Insight' runner Privman (Justify) who was tabbed as the even-money favorite. Co-owned by Chris Galpin and trained by James Glenn--both from the Quarter Horse world--the juvenile grabbed the early lead from the bell, but relinquished the top spot up the backstretch to General Jackson (Maximus Mischief). Chasing the pace around the far turn,...

You don't see many new faces at the 2-year-old sales. When it comes to the best prospects that come through the ring, the ones that command the serious dollars, they are usually bought by the same people who give them to the same trainers. So when owner Chris Galpin and trainer James (Jimmy) Glenn, Jr. pounced on an Into Mischief colt that sold for $500,000 at OBS April, some were probably wondering...just who are these guys? The answer is: a couple of Quarter Horse guys who wanted to get into...

7th-LRC, $41K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 7:04 p.m. ET. The members of Three Amigos--Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman--went to $500,000 during Keeneland September to acquire RELATABLE (Arrogate), who is part of her sire's final 3-year-old crop. The filly is out of the Canadian bred GSP Aunt Els (Consolidator)--dam to a 2-year-old filly by Higher Power and a yearling filly by Silver State. The Bob Baffert trainee sports a strong set of works under her belt, which includes a final six panel drill (1:12.80, 1/4) alongside stablemate Normandy...

The eight-day Los Angeles County Fair meet at Los Alamitos, which runs from June 22 through July 7, will include three stakes races. Leading the trio is the $200,000 GII Great Lady M S., which will be run July 6. The 6 1/2-furlong race is for fillies and mares and was won a year ago by Eda (Munnings). The $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby will be run June 29 and the $100,000 Bertrando S. for 3-year-olds and up bred or sired in California will be run June 22. Racing will be...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, trainer Lorenzo Ruiz was issued a combined 7-year suspension and charged a total of $95,000 in fines for three separate post-race positives for Diisopropylamine, a banned substance under HISA. The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) classifies Diisopropylamine as a vasodilator, which is a substance that dilates the blood vessels to allow blood to flow more freely through them. Diisopropylamine is also found in...

The way California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) chair Greg Ferraro describes it, the now infamous letter in which 1/ST Racing and Gaming appeared to threaten the sale of Santa Anita should the board grant the North its desired 2024 race dates was "a very big mistake" on their part--one that helped sway the board's unanimous decision to side with interests in the Northern half of the state. "It really put a bad taste in the mouths of board members," Ferraro said. Beforehand, Ferraro had anticipated punting a decision on the...

Southern California-based trainer Milton Pineda has been banned for 15 years and ordered to pay a total of $195,000 in fines and legal fees after an arbitration panel found him guilty of seven rule violations under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Unit (HIWU)'s Anti-Doping and Medication Control (AMDC) program, according to a final decision dated Mar. 12. Between June 2 and July 4 last year, seven different Pineda-trainees tested positive for Diisopropylamine—a banned substance under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)—after running at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos. During...

In an advisory issued to trainers just before Christmas, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) warned that caffeine had been detected in two supplements marketed to performance horses analyzed by the Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Lab at UC Davis. "As such, Horsemen are advised to exercise extreme caution when using these products in close proximity to a race," the advisory states. Under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), caffeine is a Class B controlled substance, which comes with a possible 15-day suspension and $1,000 fine for a first offense....

Wynstock (Solomini), campaigned in partnership by Los Alamitos track owner Ed Allred and one-time Hollywood Park president and current Los Al vice president Jack Liebau, provided his New York-based stallion with his second stakes winner of the afternoon and first at the graded level when narrowly outlasting Stronghold (Ghostzapper) in Saturday's GII Los Alamitos Futurity. It was the eighth victory in the 10 runnings of the Futurity since relocating to Orange County for trainer Bob Baffert and first since 2020. Ironically, Solomini crossed the wire best in the 2017 renewal,...