Jolie Olimpica, Oleksandra Prepare For Rematch In Las Cienegas Sponsored by:
Oleksandra winning the Grade 1 Jaipur
Separated by a half length when they last met in May, Brazilian-bred Jolie Olimpica and Australian-bred Oleksandra head a field of seven older fillies and mares going six furlongs on turf in Saturday s Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita.
Originally run at about 6 ½ furlongs down the track s Camino Real Hillside Turf Course, the 47th edition of the Las Cienegas will be contested for the first time ever out of Santa Anita s all-new turf chute.
Idle since running a big second in the G1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland going a mile and one sixteenth on turf July 11, the Richard Mandella-trained Jolie Olimpica took last year s Las Cienegas at 5 ½ furlongs on turf in her U.S. debut four starts back on Jan. 11, 2020 and is a two-time graded stakes winner over the Santa Anita lawn.
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Jockey Abel Cedillo
A day after being unseated in a freak mishap, jockey Abel Cedillo won three times Friday at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif.
Released from Long Beach Memorial Hospital late Thursday afternoon after an MRI and X-rays showed no injury after he was dumped when Governance, his third race mount, apparently jumped a shadow midway around the far turn in the one-mile contest, Cedillo moved into a tie for the top spot in the rider standings with his hat trick.
The last of Cedillo s Friday wins – and his sixth through the first five days of the Los Angeles County Fair Winter meet – came aboard 2-1 favorite Acting Out in the $55,260 feature.
Full fields have led to some large exotic payoffs through the first four days of the Los Angeles County Fair Winter meet at Los Alamitos.
Buoyed by the influx of horses from Northern California due to the current stoppage of racing at Golden Gate Fields, the average field size for the first 34 races of the meet is nine starters per contest.
Through Dec. 10, the average payoff for the Players’ Pick 5 – which has a 14% takeout rate and is a 50-cent minimum bet – is $15,120. The highest return came Thursday when it paid $54,431. The record Players’ Pick 5 payoff since daytime thoroughbred racing returned to Los Alamitos in 2014 was $265,806 on Dec. 11, 2016.
wheelchair. now, that s an incentive thing. but it goes to the passion that this is unfair. you re sayinging he s more emotion than reason right now? exactly. he knew the rules going in. i didn t hear him say a word about it before the race. going into the belmont, he knew the horses were coming in fresh. he said, hey, my horse is going to win, he thought he would. it just didn t happen. after the race, like i said, very disappointing i talked to art sherm issen, i talked to victor espinoza, they were very classy in defeat. they said, that s how it is. that s the way it is. we ve got art sherman coming up later in the show. i did hear from you that chrome was boxed in more than he had been in the other two races this time. people said his bloodlines came into play. and he didn t have distance in his blood. certainly, people are talking
coward s way out requiring all these horses to run all three. reporter: this morning on nbc s today show coburn repeated his thoughts last night right after the race. so he s not backing down. however, just a short time ago at belmont park, the trainer of california chrome, art sherman, was more generous indicating that perhaps his owner was speaking a little bit in the heat of the moment. let s listen. i think at the heat of the conversations with the press and everything sometimes you might get a little vocal and not really think about what he s saying. i think mr. coburn was mad because the other horses got a break, to be away for six weeks and freshening up from their last race, you know what i mean? he says, well, if you want to run in the triple crown, you should run in all races like the rest of us. reporter: sherman indicated