Racing News

Jockey John Velazquez will be in the saddle when champion Untapable lines up for her 2015 debut in Saturday’s G2 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

According to the Daily Racing Form, trainer Steve Asmussen has confirmed that Velazquez will be aboard the 4-year-old daughter of Tapit. Velazquez replaces Rosie Napravnik, who retired last fall.

Velazquez has ridden Untapable before; the Hall of Famer won the G1 Mother Goose on the filly last June while Napravnik was recovering from a shoulder injury.

Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens is in a south Florida hospital with a serious infection that has led to complications, his son Jimmy Jerkens said Monday.

Allen Jerkens, 85, is in and out of consciousness, according to his son, but on Monday afternoon was showing signs of being responsive. He is breathing with the help of a respirator, Jimmy Jerkens said.

“He squeezed my hand and opened and closed his eyes. It looks like the antibiotics are kicking in,” Jimmy Jerkens said Monday. “As of right now, things are looking a lot better than they were yesterday. He’s making pretty good strides.”

Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan will begin tack-walking and is expected to undergo further evaluation in two to three weeks as to whether he will continue progress toward a return to the races in 2015, trainer Charlie LoPresti said March 2.

Morton Fink's 8-year-old Wiseman's Ferry gelding missed a run in the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT), a race he won in 2013 and 2012, due to a non-displaced fracture at the bottom of the cannon bone of his right front fetlock announced last Oct. 13. The injury resulted in only minor lameness for Wise Dan, who began to heal with tack-walking and being turned out in a round pen at Keeneland, then followed his usual seasonal routine of turnout at LoPresti's Forest Lane Farm near Lexington.

At the Jockey Club of Canada's Graded Stakes Committee annual review of the graded and listed stakes in Canada, the committee upgraded one listed race to bring the total to 44 graded stakes for 2015.

The Graded Stakes Committee meeting Jan. 27 was conducted by chairman Jeff Begg with all committee members as well as chief steward Jim Lawson and the race secretaries from Hastings Racecourse, Northlands Park, and Woodbine.  

Led by the $1 million Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 2, Monmouth Park announced a graded-stakes schedule worth $3.5 million for 2015. In addition, the popular bonus programs for owners and trainers will return this season, which begins May 9.

Throughout the 58 days of live racing at Monmouth in 2015, all trainers will receive a $300 bonus for every non-state-bred starter regardless of surface. Owners will receive a minimum of $700 for every non-state-bred dirt starter and a minimum of $500 for every open turf runner.

Haskell day 2015 will see four of Monmouth's 17 graded-stakes events, with the Monmouth Cup (gr. II), WinStar Matchmaker Stakes (gr. IIIT), and Metropolitan Jets Oceanport Stakes (gr. IIIT) adding to the track's biggest racing event.

Australia and the United States have the most races on the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities annual list of the top 100 group or grade I stakes. The list was released March 3.

The rankings are based on an average of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings of the first four finishers in the races for the past three years. The top 100 races also serve as the base of an annual competition to recognize top jockeys throughout the world; the winner is honored with the Longines World's Best Jockey Award.

Twelve countries and 39 tracks have races on this year's list, led by Australia with 26 and the U.S. with 23. The other countries are Great Britain (16 races), Japan (10), France (nine), Hong Kong (six), the United Arab Emirates (five), and Canada, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, and South Africa each with one.

The 10 finalists on this year's National Museum of Racing's 2015 Hall of Fame ballot are jockeys Chris Antley, Victor Espinoza, Corey Nakatani, and Craig Perret; Thoroughbreds Black Tie Affair, Kona Gold, Lava Man, and Xtra Heat; and trainers King Leatherbury and David Whiteley.

Four jockeys, four Thoroughbreds, and two trainers comprise the 10 finalists on the ballot, as selected by the Museum's Hall of Fame nominating committee.

Espinoza, Nakatani, Black Tie Affair, Lava Man, Leatherbury, and Whiteley are first-time finalists. Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. The four candidates with the highest vote totals will be elected.

The 10 finalists on this year's National Museum of Racing's 2015 Hall of Fame ballot are jockeys Chris Antley, Victor Espinoza, Corey Nakatani, and Craig Perret; Thoroughbreds Black Tie Affair, Kona Gold, Lava Man, and Xtra Heat; and trainers King Leatherbury and David Whiteley.

Four jockeys, four Thoroughbreds, and two trainers comprise the 10 finalists on the ballot, as selected by the Museum's Hall of Fame nominating committee. 

Espinoza, Nakatani, Black Tie Affair, Lava Man, Leatherbury, and Whiteley are first-time finalists. Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. The four candidates with the highest vote totals will be elected. 

Gulfstream Park announced a record $4.7 million summer stakes schedule March 1, highlighted by the $1 million Summit of Speed series, the $2 million Florida Sire Stakes series, and an inaugural Sire Stakes series worth $900,000 for 3-year-old Florida-breds.

The schedule will feature five graded stakes, starting with the Miami Mile (gr. IIIT) April 25 

The Summit of Speed will feature two $250,000 stakes in the Princess Rooney (gr. II) and Smile Sprint (gr. II), and the Carry Back (gr. III) and Azalea (gr. III), both with purses of $150,000. The series, which gained popularity at Calder Casino & Race Course, will be run July 5. It was not run in 2014.

Indiana Grand Racing & Casino will offer 37 stakes this year, including the Indiana Derby (gr. II), which moved from its traditional spot the first Saturday in October to mid-July.

More than $4 million in stakes purses will be available for the 120-day 2015 meet, which begins April 21 and ends Oct. 31.

The $500,000 Indiana Derby, the state's richest Thoroughbred race, will be one of five stakes on the July 18 program including the $200,000 Indiana Oaks (gr. II). The week leading up to the Indiana Derby will feature seven stakes July 15-17.

Multiple grade I winner Palace Malice continued to prepare for his return to the races with a three-furlong move Feb. 28 at Palm Beach Downs, his first since rejoining the Florida string of trainer Todd Pletcher.

The 5-year-old son of Curlin   breezed in a sharp :36.69, best of 12 moves at the distance on the day.

Palice Malice, owned jointly by Dogwood Stable and Three Chimneys Farm, had one easy breeze in Aiken, S.C. before he went back into training with Pletcher.

As she traveled from New Jersey to Florida for Sunday night’s (Feb. 22) Dan Patch Awards tribute, trainer Nancy Johansson passed time on her flight by reading a Hoof Beats magazine story about her Horse of the Year winner JK She’salady.

JK She’salady, bred and owned by 3 Brothers Stables, was undefeated in 12 races last season and became the first 2-year-old female pacer in harness racing history to be named Horse of the Year by the U.S. Harness Writers Association. She was honored Sunday at USHWA’s Dan Patch Awards Night of Champions Banquet at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel at SeaWorld.

“When I was reading that story it sunk in more, like, wow, this is what we’re coming all the way to Florida for,” Johansson said. “It’s very exciting. It’s something that I think everybody works for, and it’s nice to be able to accomplish that. It’s really sunk in more now.”

The first race at Golden Gate Fields Feb. 15 was declared a no-contest when, because of a malfunction, the starting gate couldn't be moved off the track in time for the one-mile event to be completed.

Track spokesman Tom Ferrall said the assistant starters ran up the track to alert the riders in the six-horse field. He said all of the jockeys were able to safely pull up their horses in midstretch.

Multiple grade I winner Palace Malice threw a shoe while galloping Jan. 28 and sustained a minor bruise to his left front foot, causing a slight delay in his training regimen in Aiken, S.C.

The 5-year-old son of Curlin   turned in his first breeze of 2015 Jan. 22 in Aiken after returning to conditioning mid-November after a layoff at Three Chimneys Farm. He did not train the morning of Jan. 29 and will not breeze Jan. 30 as was originally planned by his connections.

Owned by Dogwood Stable in partnership with Three Chimneys, he was scheduled to return to trainer Todd Pletcher in Florida Feb. 1, and will now have that trip postponed as well.

Read more on BloodHorse.com: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/89870/palace-malice-sustains-minor-foot-bruise#ixzz3QLHcz5Wc