Thursday notes: Think it'll rain?

Santa Anita’s main racing surface was reopened for training on Wednesday and officials are optimistic that racing will continue on the Cushion Track footing at least until it rains again.

“This has obviously been a very difficult period for everyone involved but we’re looking forward to getting back to business,” Santa Anita director of racing Michael Harlow. “A lot of people are very anxious to run on the turf, which is in terrific shape, and the main track should be ready. We’ve got some huge stakes over the weekend, with the San Fernando and the San Rafael on Saturday and the El Encino and the Santa Ynez on Sunday. These are very important, long-standing stakes here at Santa Anita and we want the horsemen and the public to know that we fully intend to run.”

Before the San Rafael ignites the Western chase to the Derby, the Big Easy route to Louisville is open with the $100,000 Lecomte Stakes, one of six-stakes card on the Saturday Fair Grounds card. A field of nine has been entered for the Lecomte. Blackberry Road, second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill in November, is a tepid favorite.

Two-year-old champ returns to training

War Pass, undefeated winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and presumptive champion male two-year-old of 2007, breezed three furlongs in 37 seconds at Palm Meadows in Florida on Thursday morning as he begins preparation for the new season.

Trainer Nick Zito. “We’re looking for a race for him at Gulfstream, a mile, in mid February.”


Stage Luck Steps up in Affectionately

From NYRA:

Although Darley Stable’s Stage Luck is the only one in Saturday’s Affectionately Handicap to never have run in a stakes, the $1.6 million daughter of Unbridled’s Song definitely has the pedigree, connections and talent to make her a black type winner.


Stage Luck got a late start to her career because of an ankle chip, which delayed her debut until August of her three-year-old season, according to trainer Tom Albertrani. Her first two starts were at Delaware Park last summer, where she finished third first time out, but managed to improve and score a big 9 ¾-length win in her second start when blinkers were added.


“She ran green the first time, but after that she made some big improvements,” Albertrani said. “I think the blinkers have helped.”

Bet down to 3-5 in her first start against winners in November, Stage Luck did not disappoint, scoring a handy win over entry-level allowance foes. She has now had two months since that race to prepare for the mile-and-a-sixteenth Affectionately.


“We know this is a bit of a step up for her, but it will be a good test,” Albertrani said. “We had some other opportunities lined up for her about a month ago, but I wasn’t really happy with the way she was training then. She’s been showing a lot more in her training lately.”



While Stage Luck is just getting her career underway, Victory Pool’s is winding down. The New Farm runner is slated to be bred to Forest Wildcat this spring, according to trainer Ben Perkins Jr.


Victory Pool, the 117-pound highweight, missed by a half-length in last year’s Affectionately and went on to post two victories from nine starts in 2007. She comes off a handy allowance win as the even-money favorite at Philadelphia Park last month. The last time she was seen in New York, the six-year-old was beaten six lengths by Sugar Shake in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm.


“That was a tough graded stakes, but we took a shot thinking we’d have a shot against a short field to get some black type,” Perkins said. “She didn’t win that day, but she’s as honest as they come.”


Dinner Break and Runway Rosie will rumble again in the Affectionately after the two were separated by just a nose in December.


Making four out of 10 starts on the dirt last year, Dinner Break won three of those races, including the restricted $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for three-year-old fillies. Her only blemish on dirt last year came in the Florida Oaks when she was well beaten by future Grade I Acorn winner Cotton Blossom.


Runway Rosie was purchased in October after her third place finish in an Oak Tree at Santa Anita listed stakes. Trainer Gary Contessa tried her on the turf in her first New York start and Runway Rosie finished a non-threatening sixth. The four-year-old ran much better in the Flat Fleet Feet, reverting back to previous dirt form in which she was beaten 2 ¾ lengths by Rags to Riches in the Grade 1 Las Virgenes last winter.


Programming note

NTRA Racing to the Kentucky Derby will air on the ESPN networks beginning Saturday, March 22, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced on Thursday. The series provides coverage of several key Triple Crown prep races, including the $1-million Florida Derby from Gulfstream Park, the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes from Keeneland and the $1-million Arkansas Derby from Oaklawn Park.

Beginning with live coverage of the Lane’s End Stakes from Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., NTRA Racing to the Kentucky Derby will offer six major races from four different race tracks. The series will conclude with a Triple Crown special airing from Louisville’s Churchill Downs two days prior to the Kentucky Derby.

The initial telecast of will feature special, live coverage of the January 26 Sunshine Millions from 5:00-6:00 p.m. on ESPN2. The Sunshine Millions features the nation’s top Florida- and California breds squaring off in races taking place at both Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita.


New gig for Gary Stevens


IEAH Stables, Inc., a subsidiary of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, Inc., announced on Thursday that former jockey Gary Stevens will assume a newly created position of Senior Advisor – Racing and Bloodstock Affairs. The position will encompass a variety of roles, including an appointment to the investment committee, corporate spokesperson, and he will play a pivotal role in the bloodstock acquisition process.

Stevens will also be heavily involved in the newly an investment partnership that will be managed by IEAH Stables. This one of a kind fund will be offered to the public in the near future. Stevens will be active in the equine selection process, capital funding, and overall management of the fund is expected to be in excess of $100 million.

Just wondering

Does it seem incongruous if not cynical that in a place where gambling is forbidden as a matter of religion, Dubai World, which like everything else there is controlled by the Maktoum family, is investing aggressively in MGM-Mirage, one of the world’s leading purveyors of games of chance?