Horse Racing News

The New York Racing Association is looking into a breakdown in communication that led to an injured jockey being left unattended to in the paddock for several minutes and nearly prompted the cancellation of the final 3 races on Saturday at Aqueduct.

Mucho Macho Man, among the leading candidates for the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 30, took his first major step in that direction by working a bullet five furlongs in 59.01 seconds Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

It took until the end of his 5-year-old year for Aggie Engineer to finally win a stakes race, but the way he ran on Saturday, in the Grade 2, $150,000 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita, there could be plenty more to come.

On Saturday, the vastly improved Soaring Empire turned the tables when holding off a late bid from Rule to register a 1 1/4-length victory in Gulfstream Park's $100,000 Hal's Hope. Morning Line finished third as the 3-5 favorite.

Stakes with $100,000 purses come in all degrees of difficulty, but it would be hard to find one much tougher or deeper than what Gulfstream Park will offer Sunday with the Grade 3 Marshua's River.

A strategic miscalculation that contributed to the defeat of May Day Rose one month ago in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet will not be repeated Sunday in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

This is a new year and Zito is upbeat about both his prospects in 2011 and those of Morning Line, the probable favorite and horse to beat in Saturday's $100,000 Hal's Hope Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

One day after being named a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, Blind Luck moved a step closer to her 2011 debut by working a sharp seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Friday morning.

The three brightest lights in racing in North America in 2010 -- Blame, Goldikova, and Zenyatta -- on Thursday were announced as finalists for 2010 Horse of the Year by the three sponsoring organizations of the awards.

Final Mesa proved much the best following a five-month layoff Wednesday when dominating the opening-day feature of the 2011 Gulfstream Park meet, the Grade 3, $100,000 Old Hat Stakes.