Santa Anita

With less than two weeks to the first weekend in May, a gaggle of contenders for the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks took to racetracks across the country for some critical breezes Saturday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) has remained at Keeneland since his slashing victory in the Apr. 6 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and returned to the worktab for the first time on a chilly morning, breezing a half-mile in the company inside of recent Keeneland maiden winner White Palomino (Kitten's Joy) in...

1st-SA, $54K, Msw, 3-5yo, f, 7f, 4:00 p.m. ET. JANE AUSTEN (Tapit) makes her first start for Muir Hut Stables and trainer Mark Glatt. A $750,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, the gray is out of MGSP Shayjolie (Indian Charlie), who Speedway Stables acquired for $400,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale. The filly's SP second dam produced GI Woodward S. runner-up Mythical Power (Congaree). Making her debut for trainer Richard Mandella is Quick Brown Fox (Justify). The Spendthrift homebred's dam MGISW Bast (Uncle) went to the...

Proxy (Tapit) provided Godolphin with its first winner of the GII Oaklawn H. just 12 months ago and the progressive Highland Falls (Curlin) has legitimate claims to double that tally when he squares off with 10 others in the nine-furlong contest. Trained by Brad Cox--who somewhat surprisingly has never saddled an Oaklawn H. winner--the homebred son of GI Breeders' Cup Distaff upsetter Round Pond (Awesome Again) won three of his first four trips to the post in maiden and allowance company back east and was scarcely disgraced last time in...

Vlahos (r, 3, Kantharos--Must Be Dreaming, by Run Away and Hide), a razor sharp debut winner for owner Dan Northrup and trainer Luis Mendez with a 98 Beyer Speed Figure at Santa Anita Mar. 9, has been purchased privately by Ty Leatherman and Todd Cady and transferred to Doug O'Neill. The sale price was not disclosed. The chestnut, a steal for $35,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, is aiming to make his next start in the $600,000 GII Pat Day Mile S. on the Kentucky Derby undercard. He has posted...

Edited Press Release FanDuel TV, the New York Racing Association, Keeneland and Santa Anita will team up with Hall of Fame jockeys along with some of the top active riders in the country and other prominent racing personalities on Sunday, Apr. 21 for the sixth annual telethon presented by Lane's End to raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF). The event will be broadcast on both FanDuel TV and America's Day at the Races on the Fox Sports family of networks as well as streamed on TVG.com. Fans...

Spendthrift Farm homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), sidelined with a fractured splint bone in her left hind leg after fading to seventh as the 4-5 favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, has begun to gear up for her sophomore campaign. The talented daughter of Hall of Famer Beholder (Henny Hughes) has posted a pair of two-furlong breezes for trainer Richard Mandella over Santa Anita's all-weather surface this month, most recently stopping the timer in :23.80 (1/1) Apr. 10. How are the initial reports so far?...

Juan Hernandez topped the riding standings and Doug O'Neill was the top trainer at Santa Anita's 46-day Classic Meet which concluded Sunday. For Hernandez, a 32-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico, this was his fifth riding title at Santa Anita. He finished with 53 wins from 245 mounts and also led all jockeys in earnings with $3,683,348. "I just want to say thank you to everybody for all the support," Hernandez said. "All the owners, trainers and all the people on the backside. The grooms, the gallop boys, because they do...

Sent off as the 11-5 second choice, Rick and Sharon Waller's Stronghold (Ghostzapper) outbattled even-money favorite Imagination (Into Mischief) through the final eighth of a mile to take Saturday's GI Santa Anita Derby, earning 100 points towards the GI Kentucky Derby. The last-out winner of the GIII Sunland Derby, the homebred was beaten for speed and settled just off the pace in fourth as Tapalo (Tapiture) set the pace from Imagination and E J Won the Cup (Omaha Beach). Content to allow those up front to do the dirty work...

In an event billed almost as a match race between California star fillies Kinza (Carpe Diem), a MGSW and 'TDN Rising Star' for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, and Kopion (Omaha Beach), a GSW for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, it was Baffert's other entrant, Nothing Like You (f, 3, Malibu Moon--Miss Derek, by Brother Derek) who upended the GII Santa Anita Oaks in Arcadia and reported home an eased-up 7 1/2-length victress. Kinza was second, giving Baffert the exacta but suffering her first career loss, and last-out maiden winner...

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack provides analysis for Saturday's trio of GI Kentucky Derby prep races. GI Toyota Blue Grass S. - In a race billed as a showdown between the re-opposing GII Remsen S. one-two Dornoch (Good Magic) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), don't look past likely third choice Just a Touch (Justify). The highly regarded bay ran to the hype with a powerful debut score for trainer Brad Cox over the promising $1.7-million KEESEP graduate Gun Party (Curlin) (he returned with another very good second-place finish Mar....

The California Authority of Racing Fairs has formally recognized a group of owners, breeders and trainers in Northern California to serve as an advisory committee for the upcoming Pleasanton race meet. According to a press release, the committee has been informally in place since the announcement of the closure of Golden Gate Fields. The group will work with representatives in the industry to "address challenges and opportunities in real time and ensure that future CARF decisions have the collective support of the industry stakeholders." "Our Advisory Committee has the experience...

Kentucky Senator Henry Clay might be considered one of the premier American politicians pre-Lincoln, but what is not up for debate was his fervent commitment to breeding equine athletes and attending the races. You cannot actually visit his home--Ashland--because the structure that stands on the Clay Estate just south of downtown Lexington is not original to "The Great Compromiser" and his time. However, interpretations of Clay-related objects enliven the tour. Ashland in name was imported as a stakes race when Keeneland opened in 1936. Some familiar female runners who graced...