(Edited Santa Anita Park report)

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sunday’s 61st running of Santa Anita’s Grade II, $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at 6½ furlongs has attracted a diverse lineup of six 3-year-old fillies ranging from Bob Baffert’s Grade I placed Candrea to Reneesgotzip, a dazzling maiden special weight winner in her one and only start for trainer Peter Miller.

Candrea will be trying to return to her earlier form after drubbings in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Grade…

David Joseph
Gulfstream Park

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Resolute Group Stable’s 5-year-old gelding Teaks North established his national credentials last year posting a 25-1 upset victory in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) going 1 1/8 miles for trainer Justin Sallusto and went on to another major score in the 11-furlong United Nations Invitational (G1) at Monmouth Park in early July.

Teaks North gets another campaign going in the Fort Lauderdale Stakes, a race Sallusto hopes will set

(Edited Gulfstream Park report)

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ol Memorial Stable and C. E. Glasscock’s Soaring Empire will try to score back-to-back victories in the $100,000 Hal’s Hope (G3) Saturday, a feat accomplished only once before when Chatain captured both the 2007 and 2008 runnings. Soaring Empire, a dark bay horse by Empire Maker, won the 2011 running of the one mile dirt event for his trainer Cam Gambolati, and he is looking forward to starting his 2012 campaign in…

Ed Gray
Gulfstream Park

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Just when it looked like his best days were behind him, Jackson Bend’s career took a turn for the better last year.

Trainer Nick Zito added a sprinting star to his stable by subtracting a turn from the gritty Florida-bred’s racing regimen.

Winless in 12 starts since sweeping the 2009 Florida Stallion Series – although highly competitive against the best horses in the country – Jackson Bend broke through with back-to-back…

Margo Flynn
Tampa Bay Downs

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Promising 3-year-olds from the barns of such top-level conditioners as Kentucky Derby-winning trainers H. Graham Motion and Todd Pletcher, as well as Mark Casse, Derek Ryan, Edward Plesa Jr. and Wayne Catalano, are among a group of 47 horses nominated to Saturday’s $100,000 Pasco Stakes and $100,000 Gasparilla Stakes for fillies at Tampa Bay Downs.

Entries and post positions will be drawn Wednesday.

The Pasco and Gasparilla, both seven furlongs, are…

Ed Golden
Santa Anita Park

ARCADIA, Calif. – A jockey with unquestioned riding ability, a world-class agent, and a two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer who wins more races in one year than some trainers win in a lifetime is a winning combination.           

It’s also a union that’s favored to reach the winner’s circle with Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Regally Ready in Sunday’s Daytona Stakes, a Grade III, $100,000 race on Santa Anita’s turf course at about 6½ furlongs. Ridden…

Jenny Kellner
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With the $150,000 Count Fleet for 3-year-olds on tap Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack, what better time than the present to start thinking about the future?

A field of seven sophomores was entered for the one-mile, 70-yard Count Fleet, the opening salvo in a trio of races leading up to the Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World New York City Casino Wood Memorial on April 7, New York’s traditional prep for the…

(Edited Santa Anita Park report)

ARCADIA, Calif. – Unzip Me will be heavily favored to advance her attachment to Santa Anita’s hillside turf course on Monday when seeking a repeat victory in the 45th running of the Grade III, $100,000 Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares.

Trained by Marty Jones, the California-bred daughter of City Zip has won 6 of 9 starts at 6½ furlongs over the unique grass layout. She was a close second on another occasion. Unzip Me…

Jon Forbes
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On New Year’s Day in 2011, Nicole H won the Interborough, and later in the year became a graded stakes winner. On Sunday, she’ll look to commence the new year in similar fashion when she competes at Aqueduct Racetrack in the 2012 edition of the $75,000 Interborough, a six-furlong dash for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

Owned by Gem, Inc., Nicole H used the Interborough as a springboard to April’s…

David Joseph
Gulfstream Park

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park has traditionally exerted the most influence on the Triple Crown of any racetrack, and that tradition of excellence figures to be even greater in 2012 with the inauguration of another major stakes for 3-year-olds.

The inaugural running of the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Derby will highlight Sunday’s New Year’s Day program, offering a lucrative first step on the Road to the Kentucky Derby for 11 newly turned 3-year-olds.

As the…