Horse Racing News

Little Mike and Twilight Meteor each wired their respective fields at big odds last out, but neither figures to be favored for the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (Grade 1) Feb. 5 when a well-balanced lineup of eight goes to post.

How strong is the field for the Donn Handicap? Included among the nine starters is a horse that enters off a win in a Breeders' Cup race, another that bagged the Clark Handicap last out, and a third that set a track record in his season debut.

Undefeated Turbulent Descent, one of the leading 2-year-old fillies in the nation last year, will race on dirt for the first time in the Grade 1, $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Feb. 5.

Jockey Eibar Coa plans to ride at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday after spending Monday in a South Florida jail cell on charges of domestic battery, his agent, Tito Fuentes, said on Tuesday.

Horse owners in New York would pay a 2.75-percent tax on purse earnings under a plan proposed by the state's new governor, Andrew Cuomo, to raise money for the funding of the state's racing commission.

Pimlico Race Course will again offer infield patrons at the Preakness Stakes a $20 beer mug that can be refilled unlimited times, the company said on Tuesday when announcing that infield tickets had gone on sale.

Elliott Burch, a Hall of Fame trainer who won the Belmont Stakes three times and hailed from a family of revered horsemen, died Sunday of complications from pneumonia in Newport Hospital in Rhode Island. He was 86.

Trainer Nick Zito didn't really want to do it, but his decision to bypass an allowance event nine days earlier for the $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes looks pretty good after the inexperienced Dialed In swept to an impressive win at Gulfstream Park Jan. 30.

Dancinginherdreams and R Heat Lightning had attracted all the pre-race publicity coming into Sunday's $200,000 Forward Gal Stakes at Gulfstream Park, but Pomeroys Pistol had a race over the track.

As dominant as she was in winning the Grade 1 La Brea in stakes record-time one month ago, Switch looked like a world-beater as she trounced her rivals in the $250,000 Santa Monica Handicap (Grade 1) Jan. 30 at cloudy Santa Anita Park.