Horse Racing News

Gary and Mary West's homebred Book Review found California to her liking Dec. 26, when she got up over tough contender Reneesgotzip and 2011 2-year-old champion My Miss Aurelia in the final strides of the $300,000 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Legislation to bring off-track betting back to New York City was vetoed Dec. 17 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The much-anticipated second start for Zenyatta's half sister, Eblouissante, will have to wait. The 3-year-old filly banged her hip in the recieving barn prior to running and was a late scratch from the fourth race at Betfair Hollywood Park Dec. 15.

Yvonee Jacques' Grandeur was favored to win the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last out off a nice half-length score in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby (formerly Oak Tree Derby) in his U.S. debut on November 2.

Favored Violence remained unbeaten in three starts when he ran down front-running Fury Kapcori for victory in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity, the final graded stakes of the autumn meet at Betfair Hollywood Park Dec. 15.

Runner-up as the favorite in the Hollywood Derby, Grandeur (Ire) will try to become the first 3-year-old since Bien Bien in 1992 to win the Hollywood Turf Cup Dec. 15 at Betfair Hollywood Park.

He's Had Enough, who missed by a head winning the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile last month, and Nashua Stakes victor Violence square off against a quartet from the Bob Baffert barn in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity Dec. 12 at Betfair Hollywood Park.

A new state-controlled board of directors at the New York Racing Association held its first meeting Dec. 12, bringing the long-embattled racetrack operator to a new and uncertain place in its history that dates back to 1955.

Animal Kingdom, winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, is on track to make his 2013 debut in the Feb. 9 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap after an easy Dec. 11 half-mile work at Palm Meadows Training Center.

A smashing winner in her much anticipated debut last month, Eblouissante, a half sister to 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, will make her second start Dec. 15 at Betfair Hollywood Park.