- AWARD WINNER SET FOR MARATHON SAN LUIS REY
- ‘JERSEY JOE’ BRAVO WINS WOOLF AWARD
- MOORE, DICKENSON AWARDED FOR SURFACE WORK
- FORBIDDEN KINGDOM FAVORED IN 4TH DERBY POOL
AWARD WINNER PASSED BIG ‘CAP FOR SAN LUIS REY
David Hofmans was seriously considering the Santa Anita Handicap presented by Yaamava’ Resort & Casino for Award Winner, but upon further review, the 79-year-old Los Angeles native with credentials worthy of Hall of Fame consideration is keeping the turf specialist on the grass.
“We’re going in the San Luis Rey (Saturday’s Grade III event at 1 ½ miles on turf),” said Hofmans, trainer of the six-year-old son of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper for John and Jerry Amerman, who own the bay gelding. It was John’s wife, Jerry, who bred Award Winner.
“We were hoping the Big ‘Cap would come up a little easier, but it didn’t,” said Hofmans, who won the 2016 Santa Anita Handicap with longshot Melatonin.
The Amermans, longtime California residents, are valued supporters of racing in The Golden State with the likes of 2003 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Adoration, Grade I winners Balance, Lido Palace, Siphonic, Happyanunoit, Spoken Fur and Mash One.
The Amermans earned their second Breeders’ Cup win in 2016 when Oscar Performance won the Juvenile Turf.
John has an extensive racing resume, having been elected to the Board of Stewards of The Jockey Club and been a member of the California Horse Racing Board, the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Graded Stakes Committee.
Steeped in Division One business experience far beyond horseracing, Amerman served as Chairman and CEO of Mattel Toys for 11 years, and along with Jerry, owns Peacefield Farm in Temecula, which is dedicated to rehabilitating race and show horses.
“John is in good health, feeling good and excited about racing,” Hofmans said. “He’s just a little disappointed it’s difficult to get horses racing in California.
“But that said, he recently sent me some two-year-olds, so he’s still a big supporter of California racing.”
The field for the 71st San Luis Rey, race nine of nine with a 12:30 p.m. first post time: Say the Word, Flavien Prat, 5-2; Red King, Umberto Rispoli, 8-1; Airman, Ryan Curatolo, 20-1; Dicey Mo Chara, Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1; Current, Chris Emigh, 8-1; Acclimate, Ricardo Gonzalez, 4-1; Award Winner, Juan Hernandez, 5-1; Henley’s Joy, Mike Smith, 6-1; and Offlee Naughty, John Velazquez, 10-1.
JOE BRAVO NAMED GEORGE WOOLF AWARD WINNER
Long one of the most highly respected riders of his generation, New Jersey-born Joe Bravo has won Santa Anita’s 2022 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award via a vote of jockeys nationwide.
Bravo will be feted in a Runhappy Winner’s Circle ceremony on Sunday, March 27, and be joined by family, friends and the Santa Anita jockey colony as he accepts the Woolf Award trophy which is a replica of the life-sized statue of the legendary George Woolf that adorns Santa Anita’s Paddock Gardens area.
Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950 and one of the most coveted awards in racing, the Woolf Award can only be won once. Named for the late Hall of Fame jockey who gained national fame when an estimated radio audience of 40 million tuned in as he piloted Seabiscuit to victory over Triple Crown Champion War Admiral in a match race at Pimlico Race Course on Nov. 1, 1938, the Woolf Award recognizes riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
“It really is an honor to now be part of this circle of riders, joining all of these guys that I grew up with or grew up underneath, I’ll put it like that,” said Bravo when informed that he’d won. “I was lucky enough to win the East Coast version of the Woolf Award, the Mike Venezia Award in 2018, and now to be honored here on the West Coast, wow, you don’t know what an honor this is.
“My Dad will be coming out and this makes all the hard days, the mornings we work, all worthwhile. There’s probably only one award above this I’d like to have, and that’s the Hall of Fame.”
Born in Long Branch, New Jersey on Sept. 10, 1971, “Jersey Joe” Bravo was a dominant force in the Mid-Atlantic and in particular at Monmouth Park dating back to the early 1990’s, through early 2021.
In the summer of last year, Bravo announced that due to a change in riding rules instituted by the New Jersey Racing Commission, he would be shifting his base of operations to Southern California on a full-time basis, whereupon he soon engaged locally based agent Matt Nakatani.
A great judge of pace and especially known for his prowess on turf, Bravo, 50, has won 13 riding titles at Monmouth and nine titles at the Meadowlands. He is closing in on 5,600 victories in a career that dates back to his debut at age 17 in 1988. A third-generation rider, Bravo’s biggest win came at Santa Anita aboard Blue Prize in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Won last year by Deshawn Parker, Bravo topped a 2022 Woolf Award list of finalists that included Glenn Corbett, Julien Leparoux, Rodney Prescott and Tim Thornton.
—Mike Willman
MOORE, DICKENSON HONORED FOR SURFACE WORK
Congratulations to Santa Anita Track Surfaces Consultant Dennis Moore on being among the first class of winners of the Racetrack Maintenance Innovation Awards which were presented at the Racecourse Managers’ Conference and Workshop March 7 in Las Vegas.
The award was created to celebrate the work of racetrack professionals who have day-to-day responsibilities for the maintenance, protection and safety of horses and riders at tracks across the United States.
Moore oversees racing surfaces at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos, and was nominated for his work that led to maintenance and operational innovations for the synthetic surfaces at Remington Park and Hollywood Park, and for his work to consistently evaluate new technologies, including fiber and new maintenance equipment for dirt and synthetic surfaces.
Also winning were Leif Dickenson, turf and landscape superintendent at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and Joe King, awarded posthumously, former New York Racing Association (NYRA) track superintendent.
Dickenson was nominated for introduction of fibers in turf profiles at Santa Anita to improve the sheer strength of sand without use of alternative materials that would impede drainage.
King was nominated for being the first to systematically include testing of the racing surfaces on a regular basis and for being a critical asset in designing racetrack surfaces.
CHRB TELECONFERENCE MEETINGS SET
The California Horse Racing Board will conduct a teleconference meeting Thursday, March 17, while the Pari-Mutuel and Wagering Committee will conduct a teleconference meeting Wednesday, March 16, both starting at 9:30 a.m.
Consistent with Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-29-20, these meetings will be teleconference only. No physical location will be provided.
The public may participate in either of two ways. The webcast audio link on the CHRB website will continue to provide a way for the public to listen to these meetings. Those wishing to speak during either meeting should first dial 800-343-1703. The passcode for the committee meeting is 67570#. The passcode for the Board meeting is 41099#.
To speak on any item, press star (*) 1 to enter the speakers’ queue. Those providing unsolicited public comment on individual agenda items will be limited to two minutes. Comments must relate specifically to the agenda items.
Note that for agenda item #2 of the committee meeting and agenda item #13 of the Board meeting, Public Comment, no further comments will be permitted after 30 minutes.
The agenda and package of materials for the Board meeting and the agenda and package for the committee meeting all are available on the CHRB website.
FINISH LINES: Front-running San Vicente and San Felipe Stakes winner Forbidden Kingdom trained by Richard Mandella is the 5-1 morning line favorite in the fourth of five 2022 Kentucky Derby Future Wager pools which opened at 9 a.m. Pacific Time today. Closing time for Pool 4 is 3 p.m. Pacific Sunday. The mutuel field encompassing “all others” is the second betting choice at 6-1. Forbidden Kingdom also moved this week from 15th to second in the National Turf Writers Association top three-year-old poll conducted by national media. Trainer Steve Asmussen‘s Epicenter retained the top spot with eight first-place votes . . . There were 94 workouts recorded Friday, including a four-furlong move by Grade I Shoemaker Mile winner Smooth Like Straight in 47.40 for Michael McCarthy and a bullet breeze at the same distance in 46.60 by Grade II Californian Stakes winner Royal Ship for Mandella . . . Horseplayer’s Steve Pollack will be Tom Quigley‘s guest Saturday, 11:20 a.m., in the East Paddock Gardens . . . Racing rarity: in Monday’s second race, three of the seven runners were sent postward at identical odds of 9-5 on the tote board, although fourth-place finisher Season to Remember was the actual betting favorite at $1.80 to $1. Scream and Shout, off at $1.90 to $1 under Tyler Baze for owner/trainer Mary Rowan, won the race by two lengths paying $5.80 to win, while Keep Your Coil, also at $1.90 to $1, was second . . . Millionaire gelding Restrainedvengence, still going strong at age seven, worked four furlongs Wednesday in a bullet 48.20 for trainer Val Brinkerhoff, who hopes to use Santa Anita’s inaugural John Shear Mile on April 10 in advance of another start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 5 at Keeneland…Turf Paradise-based trainer Clay Brinson reports former trainer R.M. Penton, a former longtime assistant to legendary “King Richard” Hazelton, passed away in Phoenix this past Saturday at age 80. Penton was best known locally for his work in association with Cal-bred graded stakes winning sprinter Individual Style in the mid 1990s.
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FEATURES:
Stronach Pick 5 All-Star Ticket on March 11th, 2022
Eddie Olczyk’s Hat Trick for Saturday March 12th, 2022
WORKOUTS:
Im Still Thirsty (Outside) and At the Spa (Periban) 3-10-22
Triple Tap (Outside) and High Connection (Baffert) 3-10-22
Gritty Girl (Mullins) 3-10-22
Quidproquo Joeblow (Outside) and Goldini (D’Amato) 3-10-22
Private Mission (Baffert) 3-09-22
Charlito (Outside) and Kura (Mandella) 3-09-22
Brittle and Yoo (Ellis) 3-09-22
Micro Share (Mandella) 3-09-22
Restrainedvengence (Brinkerhoff) 3-09-22
Say the Word (Outside) and Jack Six Pack (D’Amato) 3-07-22
McLaren Vale (Outside) and Blackadder (Baffert) 3-07-22
Going Global (Outside) and Lansdowne (D’Amato) 3-07-22
