Horse racing news | Horse Racing Free Tips

Romans Has Trio Nominated To Jan. 2 Mucho Macho Man At Gulfstream Park

Albaugh Family Stables LLC's Smiley Sobotka and Sittin On Go are prominent on the list of nominations for the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man, a one-turn mile stakes that will kick off the Road to the Florida Derby (G1) for newly turned 3-year-olds Jan. 2 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Mucho Macho Man will headline a program with four other stakes that will be renewed this year Lasix-free, including the $75,000 Ginger Brew, the $75,000 Dania Beach, the $75,000 Limehouse, and the $75,000 Glitter Woman.

Dale Romans-trained Smiley Sobotka and Sittin On Go are both sons of Albaugh Family Stables LLC's Brody's Cause, whom Romans saddled for victories in the 2015 Breeders' Futurity (G1) and 2016 Blue Grass (G1).

Smiley Sobotka followed up a dominating maiden score at Keeneland with a close-up second in the Nov. 28 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill last time out. The Ontario-bred colt was pressured while setting or prompting the pace from the inside throughout the 1 1/16-mile race but held gamely to finish less than a length behind Keepmeinmind.

Sittin On Go finished an even sixth in the Kentucky Jockey Club and finished well back in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland, but the Kentucky-bred colt had won his previous two races, including the Iroquois (G3) at Churchill.

Romans is also represented on the list of nominations by Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister's Ultimate Badger, who finished off the board in the Kentucky Jockey Club.

Shadwell Stable's Mutasaabeq, a winner on both turf and dirt, is also a Mucho Macho Man nominee with a high profile. After 4 ½-length debut winner and third-place finisher over Saratoga's main track, Mutasaabeq earned graded-stakes status with a going-away 2 ½-length romp in the Bourbon (G2) over Keeneland's turf course. The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Into Mischief turned in a disappointing off-the-board finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Keeneland in his 2020 finale. Mutasaabeq is also nominated to the Dania Beach and the Limehouse.

Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Stonestreet Stables LLC's Likeable, an impressive maiden winner at Belmont prior to finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland, is also nominated.

Trainer Gustavo Delgado is represented on the noms list by a pair of impressive debut winners, OGMA Investments LLC and Off the Hook LLC's Jirafales and Top Racing LLC's Ocean Ride. Jirafales overcame a jump at the start of his Gulfstream Park West debut to pull away by nearly five lengths Nov. 19. Ocean Ride overcame the rail post, a slow start and a bump to graduate at first asking at Gulfstream Park West Nov. 28. Both colts are also nominated to the Limehouse.

Breeze Easy LLC's Easy Time, a Mark Casse-trained son of Not This Time, has been nominated to the Mucho Macho Man off a strong debut score at Woodbine.

Alex and Joanne Lieblong's Big Thorn, a David Fawkes-trained son of The Big Beast, earned a Mucho Macho Man nomination while winning the Gulfstream Park West Juvenile Sprint by 4 ½ lengths.

Trainer Kathy Ritvo, who saddled Mucho Macho Man for a victory in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita in 2013, is represented on the noms list by Raison d'Air, who graduated by 13 ½ lengths before finishing fourth in the Armed Forces. Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, who campaigned Mucho Macho Man, owns Raison d'Air.

The Ginger Brew, a mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies, drew 20 nominations, including multiple stakes-placed Con Lima, a Pletcher-trained daughter of Commissioner who scored by more than five lengths in her recent turf debut at Gulfstream.

The Dania Beach, a mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds attracted 21 nominations, including Patricia's Hope LLC's Like a Saltshaker, who finished second in the Awad on turf at Belmont two starts back and previously won a stakes over Presque Isle Downs' synthetic surface.

The Limehouse, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, received 18 including a trio of highly promising colts trained by Saffie Joseph Jr.

The Glitter Woman, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies, draw 17 nominations, including Mark Casse-trained Dirty Dangle, a stakes winner at Woodbine before finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly Turf (G1).

Three stakes will ring in the New Year on the Jan. 1 program – the $75,000 Cash Run, a mile stakes for fillies and mares, the $75,000 Abundantia, a five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares, and the $75,000 Janus, a five-furlong turf dash for 4-year-olds and up.

Saturday Rainbow 6 Guarantee $400,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 will have a guaranteed pool of $400,000 when racing resumes Saturday, Dec. 26.

The sequence will begin with the H. Allen Jerkens at two miles and include the Tropical Park Derby and Tropical Park Oaks.

The jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

The post Romans Has Trio Nominated To Jan. 2 Mucho Macho Man At Gulfstream Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Laparoscopic Surgery May Prevent Recurrence of Nephrosplenic Entrapment

Nephrosplenic entrapment is a type of colic that occurs when a horse's colon shifts and settles over the nephrosplenic ligament, trapping the colon and its contents, which causes distention and pain. Nearly 9 percent of colic cases seen in equine clinics are caused by nephrosplenic entrapment.

Though it's unclear what makes some horses more prone to the condition, it's suspected that a large abdomen, abnormalities in how a horse's colon moves and the shape of the nephrosplenic space may play a role.

There are several treatments for nephrosplenic entrapment, including administering medication to shrink the spleen and then working the horse to try to get the colon back to a normal position. Anesthetizing a horse and rolling him back and forth to try to free the colon can also be done. Finally, surgery may be performed to manually free to the colon.

Though most horses with nephrosplenic entrapment recover, nearly 21 percent of survivors will experience another entrapment. The University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center found that a surgical procedure to close the nephrosplenic space can prevent the entrapment from occurring again.

Veterinarians can tack surgical mesh over the top of the spleen, which keeps the colon from slipping into the space. This can be done laparoscopically in about 30 minutes and has no risk of failure. Veterinarians looked at the records of 26 horses that had experienced nephrosplenic entrapment that had the space closed with mesh: not one horse had a recurrence during the follow-up period, which was up to seven years.

Los Alamitos To Add $10,000 To Sunday Night Pick 6 Pools In January

The traditional nighttime $2 Los Alamitos Race Course Pick 6 has always been a great bet. The wager has seen a steady growth in popularity over the past four months at the Cypress, Calif., track. It will now also feature an exciting new promotion for horseplayers during the month of January after the track announced that it will add $10,000 of company money into its Pick 6 pool on Sunday nights whenever there is not a carryover going into that evening's program.

The first Sunday eligible for the Pick 6 promotion at Los Alamitos will be January 3, which is also the night of the Grade 1, $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap for Quarter Horse mares. A total of $10,000 will be added to the $2 Pick 6 at Los Alamitos on Sunday, January 3 if there is not a carryover already going into that evening's program. Los Alamitos Race Course will continue to offer the promotion every Sunday during the month of January.

As a traditional $2 Pick Six, the wager features a 70/30 percent split each night. That means there are no jackpot provisions, and that on a nightly basis whenever there are tickets that have correctly selected six out of six winners, those winning tickets each equally share 70 percent of the total pool.

“Los Alamitos has some of the best and most loyal fans in racing and we wanted to do something to thank them for their continued support of our nightly program,” said Orlando Gutierrez, the Los Alamitos director of marketing. “We wanted to build some added excitement for our horseplayers on nights when we already have some of our best stakes races of the week.”

In addition to the Charger Bar Handicap on January 3, the month of January will also feature the Barbra B Handicap on Sunday, January 10, and the trials to the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Sunday, January 24.

“We've seen the new money wagered into the Pick 6 pools on carryover nights grow in recent months,” Gutierrez added. “For example, our November 15 program featured a Pick 6 carryover of $4,615. Horseplayers added $52,374 of new money into the pool. Similarly, on December 12 we had a carryover going in of $6,340 and the new money wagered into it that night was $50,643. With this Pick 6 promotion on Sundays in January, we are making sure that some type of money – either the existing carryover or the $10,000 promotional money – will be there for horseplayers to go after. It's going to be a lot of fun for horseplayers to go after and win.”

The recently concluded LA County Fair Meet at Los Alamitos Race Course also featured a traditional $2 Pick 6. On Friday, December 18, the program featured a multi-day carryover of $423,178 leading to $1.809,485 of new money. By the end of an exciting racing day, six tickets able to isolate the half-dozen winners in the sequence and each were rewarded with a Los Alamitos daytime record payoff of $228,816.40.

“We are looking forward to getting some feedback from our horseplayers on this promotion and hopefully we do it several times in January and we will see its popularity continue to grow nationally,” Gutierrez added.

Opening night of the nighttime 2020-21 Los Alamitos Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred meet is Saturday, December 26. The first night eligible for the $10,000 Pick 6 Promotion at Los Alamitos is Sunday, January 3, 2021. For more info, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at LosAlamitos.com.

The post Los Alamitos To Add $10,000 To Sunday Night Pick 6 Pools In January appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Best Bets: Santa Anita Opening Day Plays

America’s Best Racing and handicapper (and avid gambler) Monique Vág team up to provide horseplayers with their best bets of the weekend. Vág will identify her top picks as well as at least one longshot play of the weekend, a nice opportunity to swing for the fences on a win bet or to take a shot with a show bet. She also will occasionally look for strong exacta plays for the weekend or try to spot a nice opportunity for other wagers. This Weekend’s Bets