The Louisiana State Racing Commission’s decision Monday night to lift a shipping ban at Fair Grounds means an outbreak of the equine herpesvirus there could cause only a ripple at the track’s ongoing meet, rather than crashing over it.

A Dallas Stewart-trained horse fell ill last week and was diagnosed with equine herpesvirus on Dec. 24 after being sent to a Kentucky clinic. By the weekend, the racing commission had decided that no Fair Grounds-based horses could leave the track and no horses could ship in to race and depart again. That decision was the main reason a total of 77 horses were scratched on the Sunday and Monday racing programs, but the change of policy Monday night allowed ship-ins again when racing resumed with a rare Wednesday card. There were 22 off-site horses among the 103 entered for Wednesday’s 10 races that would have been scratched had the ban held. That’s fewer ship-ins than usual, and entries probably were down because of the fluidity of the situation.

The lifting of the shipping ban came despite the fact that tests performed Friday on all the other horses stabled in the affected barn – including those trained by Stewart and Neil Howard – revealed five more positives for equine herpesvirus. None of those horses, all trained by Stewart, have shown herpes symptoms, which can include fever, upper-respiratory distress, and neurological problems. All five were removed from the Fair Grounds backstretch Tuesday and will be quarantined at a local stable for at least three weeks.

Two types of tests – a nasal swab and a blood test – were administered, according to Dr. Tom David, the racing commission’s veterinary director. Of the five positive tests, two came from the nasal swab, one result was listed only as suspicious, and two showed up in blood tests. David said the blood-test positives suggested the virus recently had been active in the horses’ systems. A small percentage of the equine population will generate positive results in the nasal-swab test because they carry a latent strain of the virus that is unlikely to be transmitted to other animals.

A second round of tests will be performed on all the Stewart- and Howard-trained horses. Meanwhile, those horses remain under quarantine and cannot train with the general horse population or be entered to race. For the owners and trainers of these animals, the Fair Grounds herpes situation is an ongoing problem. For everyone else at the track, the hope is now for a return to business as usual.

Euroears back on the sidelines

First, the good news in the Bret Calhoun stable: Antrim County, a recent $50,000 claim, won a third-level turf allowance race on Sunday, his 10th victory in an amazing year and the second-highest 2008 win total by any horse racing in the United States.

But there is bad news, too. The gifted Euroears is going back on the shelf after only one start following a long injury layoff. Euroears won the first six starts of his career and scored three stakes wins during the 2007-2008 Fair Grounds meet, but before he could progress further, Euroears fractured a bone in his right hind leg. Surgery was performed and screws were inserted to stabilize the leg, and it is one of those screws that has derailed Euroears now.

“There’s a problem with one of the top screws,” Calhoun said. “He never did get sore on it, but he just wasn’t traveling right.”

Now, Euroears will have to undergo another operation. That will take place in the coming days, but another layoff will be required. Euroears suffered his first loss in his only start since his layoff, finishing fifth in the Bet on Sunshine Stakes on Nov. 22 at Churchill Downs.

The news is better for a pair of promising Calhoun-trained 2-year-olds. Indygo Mountain, who was scratched on the track two racing weeks ago from an entry-level one-mile allowance race, is training again. Calhoun said Indygo Mountain had been sore on his left hind foot, and his connections believed he might be harboring an abscess there. But while no abscess was detected there, Indygo Mountain popped an abscess in his right hind foot soon afterward. Both feet are feeling better, and Calhoun said Indygo Mountain is still being pointed to the Jan. 10 Lecomte.

Indygo Mountain won a one-mile Churchill Downs maiden race by more than six lengths on Nov. 19, and 10 days later, the Calhoun-trained Silver City won a 6 1/2-furlong entry-level allowance by more than four lengths. Silver City, Calhoun said, also worked through foot problems after shipping to New Orleans but breezed one mile in 1:43.20 on Sunday.

“He worked good, but not good enough to tell me he’s ready to go to two turns,” Calhoun said.

Instead, Calhoun will ship Silver City to Oaklawn Park for a start in the 5 1/2-furlong Dixieland on Jan. 16.

As for Antrim County, he won for the second time this meet and seemed to justify the hefty $50,000 claim on Nov. 9. Antrim County entered the year with a 2-for-28 career record and was claimed for just $7,500 in May. But over the course of the year, Antrim County added blinkers, was gelded, and became a different horse. Sunday, he overcame post 12 and a wide trip to beat the decent grass horse Gentleman Chester by a nose.

“I was really proud of him,” Calhoun said. “He ran a hell of a race.”

Antrim County will start next either in a starter allowance or a fourth-level allowance race.

New track superintendent

Fair Grounds has hired Brian Jabelmann as its track superintendent. Jabelmann, who has worked in similar capacities at Louisiana Downs and Woodbine and is a 29-year veteran of track maintenance, was to start work Wednesday.

The hiring puts an end to an awkward situation that saw Arlington Park track superintendent Javier Barajas flying in and out of New Orleans from his home in Chicago to supervise work on the two Fair Grounds courses.

The potential for disaster does not discriminate in racing. A training-hours collision from which everyone was fortunate to emerge intact Monday morning at Gulfstream Park gave trainer Nick Zito a sobering reminder that luck is a major factor in virtually every aspect of the sport.

“You’ve got Hall of Fame trainers, Eclipse Award trainers, and something like this happens,” he said. “It just goes to show it can happen to anybody.”

Diamond Cliff, a lower-level maiden trained by Zito, was the unintentional perpetrator of an accident that caused Hunting, a graded stakes winner trained by Shug McGaughey, to fall during a breeze on the main track. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, including Kevin Willey, the exercise rider aboard Hunting.

“I sent word to Shug how sorry I was that it happened,” Zito said the following morning at the Palm Meadows training center. “Almost the exact same thing happened to me last summer at Saratoga, right before the meet started. I had a horse just minding his own business, and one of Todd Pletcher’s horses did the same thing – acted up, got in his way, and then my horse goes down. Todd ended up telling me how sorry he was about the whole thing, and I told him, ‘Hey, I understand, those things are going to happen in this game.’”

The Zito horse, The Mighty Kahan, remains unraced and out of training while rehabilitating from injuries suffered in that July mishap. A 3-year-old colt by More Than Ready, The Mighty Kahan was a $500,000 purchase for a group that includes basketball coach Rick Pitino.

“What happened Monday just reinforces the idea that there are no prejudices in this game,” Zito said. “Good things and bad things can happen to anybody, no matter how you try to shape it and regardless of the caliber of people involved. Right or wrong? There’s just a whole lot of luck involved in this game.”

Meanwhile, Zito is taking a conservative approach with two of the more accomplished horses in his large Palm Meadows string. Commentator, he said, most likely will run just once in Florida before returning north in the spring, while Da’ Tara probably will run in an allowance race or an overnight handicap within a few weeks.

Commentator, a winner of 13 races and nearly $1.9 million, finished third as the odds-on favorite in the Nov. 28 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs in his 2008 finale. Da’ Tara, the 2008 Belmont Stakes winner, also was third at Churchill in his last race, a third-level allowance in which he was skipping a condition.

Gulfstream opener features pair of stakes

Gulfstream will open its 79-day meet Saturday with a pair of $100,000 stakes: the six-furlong Spectacular Bid for 3-year-olds, and the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope for older horses at a mile.

Racing officials are expecting a small field for the Spectacular Bid, with the leading names being Notonthesamepage, Silent Valor, Vinnies Wild Tale, and You Luckie Mann. Conversely, as many as the 14-horse maximum could go in the Hal’s Hope, including Bullsbay, Delightful Kiss, Famous Patriot, and Timber Reserve.

Entries for the 10-race Saturday opener were to be drawn Wednesday.

Gulfstream will run just five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, with no plans to expand to a six-day schedule. In previous years, racing had been held on some Mondays.

Turf sprint replaces Tropical Park Derby

The Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby has been a fixture at Calder on New Year’s Day and was always the first graded stakes race decided in North America each year. But that distinction went by the wayside this season when track management recently decided to cancel the traditional turf stakes for 3-year-olds in an effort to help offset an overpayment in the purse account during the current meeting.

Replacing the Tropical Park Derby as the main event on New Year’s Day will be a five-furlong turf race for older horses to be decided under high-priced optional claiming conditions. The nine-horse field includes a former winner of the Tropical Park Derby, 2005 champion Lord Robyn.

Lord Robyn, who celebrates his seventh birthday Thursday, has registered 7 of his 10 victories over the Calder turf course. The 2005 Tropical Derby was the first and most important of the four stakes wins he has registered over Calder’s turf. Each of those tallies came for trainer David Fawkes.

Fawkes lost Lord Robyn to trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. after dropping him in for a $75,000 claiming tag last winter at Gulfstream Park. Dutrow, in turn, lost the gelded son of Robyn Dancer for $50,000 this summer at Saratoga but got him back for owner Michael Dubb for $40,000 out of a win over Keeneland’s Polytrack in his 2008 finale on Oct. 11.

Lord Robyn has been training extremely well for his return to south Florida. His most recent work of five furlongs in 59 seconds over Gulfstream Park’s main track earned him the bullet on the Dec. 24 tab.

Mr. Silver and Lettie’s Relic, both of whom also have shown a distinct fondness for the Calder course, figure to provide Lord Robyn with his stiffest challenge in Thursday’s main event.

Sunday morning, the day after Garrett Gomez fell heavily in a one-horse spill at Santa Anita and less than 12 hours after he was released from the hospital, the jockey wanted to go to the racetrack and get on a few horses to test his condition.

Second thoughts kept him at home.

“I couldn’t move my hand too well and I didn’t have any teeth,” he said.

Gomez lost three of his upper teeth and was suffering from a swollen left hand and a gash on his knee as a result of a spill in the Eddie Logan Stakes. His mount, Back at You, tried to jump the inside rail of the turf course, causing Gomez to fall heavily. Back at You suffered a gash on a leg but was not seriously injured.

Gomez put off his comeback until Monday and returned to ride two winners on the nine-race program.

“Winning helps everything,” Gomez said. “It gives you energy and fight.”

That sort of commitment has left Gomez atop the nation’s jockeys in purse earnings for the second consecutive year in 2008. Also, he is a top contender to win the Eclipse Award as the outstanding jockey of 2008 for the second consecutive year. The award will be presented in Miami on Jan. 26.

After riding Monday, Gomez was looking for a normal day off on Tuesday before resuming riding Wednesday.

“My hand is still a little blown up,” he said after his last of four rides on Monday. “I was a little questionable this morning because my hand wasn’t working well. I taped it. I hit horses left-handed. It’s not 100 percent.”

In the moments after the fall, Gomez feared he would miss far more than just one day.

“I’ve hit the ground a lot easier than that and been more sore,” he said. “I thought I might be out for a couple of weeks.”

Before he left the hospital, Gomez told his agent, Ron Anderson, he would be back before his 37th birthday on Thursday. Gomez spent 4 1/2 hours in a dentist’s chair on Sunday, replacing crowns that were installed in 1991 because of a spill.

“I live in a dentist’s chair,” he said.

Lucky J.H. wins in return

Lucky J.H. was galloping away from the Santa Anita grandstand toward the hillside turf course before Monday’s $92,070 Impressive Luck Handicap when trainer Carla Gaines assessed the physical condition of the 6-year-old horse.

“He’s fat as a little pig,” she said. “A race doesn’t take a pound off of him, but we’ve got to do something before the Sunshine Millions.”

Lucky J.H. did more than enough in Monday’s Impressive Luck, winning his second consecutive stakes. The race served as a prep to the $500,000 Sunshine Million Turf for California-breds and Florida-breds here Jan. 24.

Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Lucky J.H. ($4) stalked pacesetter Hewitts to early stretch and held off a late run from Majestic Diamond to win by a half-length. Hewitts held third. Lucky J.H. ran about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in 1:13.55.

“I had to move a little before I wanted to,” Espinoza said. “He’s an old horse and he does what it takes to win.”

The Impressive Luck was Lucky J.H.’s first start since a win in the Sensational Star Handicap here last April and the eighth win of an 18-race career that includes earnings of $630,065. Owned by breeder John Harris, Lucky J.H. has won four stakes in his career but has been plagued by foot problems. Quarter cracks that developed in May kept him out of training through the spring and summer.

“He runs as long as his feet hold up,” Gaines said.

Lucky J.H. will be making his second consecutive appearance in the Sunshine Millions Turf, which is run over 1 1/8 miles. Last year, at Gulfstream Park, Lucky J.H. set the pace to the final furlong and finished third.

Foxysox returns from long layoff

Gaines may have another turf winner on Thursday when Foxysox returns from a layoff of nearly five months in a $63,000 allowance race over a mile on turf. Owned by Warren Williamson, Foxysox won the Grade 2 Santa Barbara Handicap at this meeting last April.

Gaines could have run Foxysox at Hollywood Park last month, but opted to wait for this meet.

“She loves this grass course,” Gaines said. “Off a layoff, I wanted a mile. It would be a good distance to start back. She’s never trained like this. I’m hoping she runs as well as she’s training.”

Foxysox is part of a field of 10 that includes Double Trouble, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Maria Handicap last February, and the minor stakes winners Bahama Mama, R Charlie’s Angel, and Shermeen.

Zenyatta nears return to track

Zenyatta, the undefeated 5-year-old mare, is nearing a return to training after a two-month break following her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 24.

Trainer John Shirreffs said earlier this week that Zenyatta could begin track work next week after being walked at his Hollywood Park stable for the last two months.

“She’s just walking, with another week to go,” Shirreffs said. “We’ve let her down well. She’s comfortable with walking three hours a day.”

Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, Zenyatta has won nine starts and $2,144,500. She will return to racing in the spring, Shirreffs said. The comeback may not happen until the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting, which begins in April.

“We’re not talking about a comeback until she breezes,” Shirreffs said. “We figured we’d wait and get through the 60 days of time off and we’ll start back.”

Despite being nominated for Sunday’s $150,000 San Gorgonio Handicap, Vacare remains retired and will be sent to England next week to be bred, according to co-owner Sarah Kelly. The 6-year-old mare won the Grade 2 Dahlia Handicap at Hollywood Park on Dec. 21 in her final start. The Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap is run over 1 1/8 miles on turf for fillies and mares. The leading contenders include High Heel Sneakers, Marzelline, Roshani, and Valbenny.

Flashing Forward was pulled up while leading Monday’s seventh race, an allowance race. A winner of 3 of 9 starts, Flashing Forward suffered an injury to her right front knee and was undergoing X-rays at trainer Gary Sherlock’s barn late Monday, track officials said.

Nicky Henderson was saddling yet another winner at Newbury yesterday while, across the Irish Sea, his prospects of Cheltenham glory were being considerably enhanced. Ireland has no shortage of Champion Hurdle contenders but, on the evidence of the December Festival Hurdle, none that will deny Binocular his destiny.

This riveting centrepiece of an otherwise humble card featured three past champions but none of them started favourite. Sizing Europe, fit to run despite a scare with a bruised foot, maintained the faith of punters still recalling his spellbinding win on this course in January.

That performance, however, looks ever more illusory. Sizing Europe travelled smoothly and surrendered tamely, just as he did at Cheltenham in March and, to some extent, at Punchestown in November. His demise, and the graphic dismay of Henry de Bromhead, his trainer, may prove more significant than the hard-earned victory of Sublimity over Won In The Dark.

In a race that indicated Hardy Eustace can no longer defy his age, and that Brave Inca would benefit from a longer trip, it was the most recent Irish-trained champion hurdler who prevailed. Sublimity had not won since his Cheltenham triumph and has also changed trainers, John Carr being replaced by Robbie Hennessy, son of owner Bill.
Hennessy, whose yard contains just 11 horses, thus has the rare distinction of a grade one prize for his first winner. Sublimity did him proud, too, but a half-length victory over a horse officially rated 25lb his inferior is not the form to intimidate Binocular. Ladbrokes reacted sharply, shortening the Champion Hurdle favourite to evens and offering 10-1 bar.

Given the poverty of their chasing ranks, starkly showcased by the Lexus Chase on Sunday, the Irish craved evidence that their hurdlers can regain supremacy after the crown was ceded to Katchit in March. More than 10,000 arrived bright-eyed on a bonechilling day but few can have gone home with the same anticipation.

Good weighing-room judges have always questioned the validity of Sizing Europe’s visually arresting win in the AIG Hurdle and their scepticism looks well-merited. Once more, he cruised into the race looking a certain winner. Once more, it came to nothing.

Andrew McNamara, his jockey, shrugged in bewilderment. We’ve no excuses, he said. De Bromhead mused that a faster pace might have helped, then sensed that it might have helped his rivals rather more. They left us standing, he admitted. He emptied, and I’m very disappointed.

Sizing Europe will probably return here for the race he won a year ago but it will be in hope rather than belief that he can overturn yesterday’s form in what is likely to be a similar field.

As expected, the two old-stagers contested the early lead but neither Hardy Eustace nor Brave Inca has quite the speed of old and the gallop was far from hectic. Hardy Eustace buckled first and, though Brave Inca battled on with his innate gameness, he could not live with the first pair.

Won In The Dark was Ireland’s best juvenile last season and finished third in the Triumph. He is a decent horse on good ground but seems most unlikely to win a Champion and hence diminishes the merit of the winner.

Not that such theories bothered Hennessy or Philip Carberry, his jockey. Sporting rakishly long hair, Carberry said: He jumped great on this ground and I kept having to take him back, as we’d agreed not to get there too soon. But he had to outbattle them from the last.

More will be required at Cheltenham if Binocular turns up in his recent form. His trainer, who has stated he will not run again beforehand, continues in the most prolific spell of his long career and a treble at Newbury further illustrated the depth of his stable strength.

Nick Williams’s Devon yard has no comparable resources but it does have a horse coveted by every trainer in these islands. Diamond Harry is now unbeaten in five starts in bumpers and over hurdles after a spreadeagling victory over some serious competition in the grade one Challow Hurdle. Bookmakers are now united in making him favourite for the Ballymore Properties Hurdle at the Festival, a position he should have held long ago.

One more quote offered yesterday was William Hill’s 8-11 against Hayley Turner making history for female jockeys by completing 100 winners in this calendar year. A double on Dover Street Art and Chalice Welcome yesterday leaves her on 98 with two days remaining.

You could tell what it meant by the demeanour of Tony McCoy. His customary granite deadpan was replaced by a wide grin and his usual earnest debrief by a hug for Jonjo O’Neill. For jockey and trainer, belated graduation of the exasperating talent called Exotic Dancer was cause for deep satisfaction.

Six previous grade one chases had brought a clutch of silver and bronze medals. Finally, they had to travel abroad to achieve the breakthrough but, for two Irishmen like McCoy and O’Neill, there was added gratification in winning the Lexus Chase, and at the principal expense of Ireland’s only plausible Gold Cup hope.

War Of Attrition has been skilfully coaxed back from serious injury by Mouse Morris, his trainer, but he was beaten 20 lengths yesterday. There were no obvious excuses, whereas for connections of The Listener, who fell at the second, and Neptune Collonges, still in front when departing two from home, there was at least the consoling uncertainty of what might have been.

The latter will assuredly progress and the Irish Hennessy, back here in February, could see him restate the challenge to his stablemates, Denman and Kauto Star, at Cheltenham. And that must now be the aim once more for Exotic Dancer after a change of tactics executed by McCoy brought the glory that had eluded him so long.
Defeat in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, even after the exit of his old nemesis Kauto Star, had left McCoy despairing. Not for nothing, though, has he been champion jockey 13 years in succession. McCoy devised the notion of dropping his horse right off the pace to relax him, then carried it out flawlessly.

His obstacles were chiefly overcome before the race begun. First, he had to obtain release from his day job riding for J.P. McManus, who ran Glenfinn Captain. With this granted, he had to survive a boneshaking fall at Kempton on Saturday which left him prone for several minutes.

The race itself changed shape with the fall of The Listener donating an easy lead to Ruby Walsh on Neptune Collonges. In the back straight for the final time, Exotic Dancer scythed through the field, jumping immaculately. He had taken the measure of War Of Attrition and was the winner in waiting even before the leader hit the second-last hard enough to dislodge Walsh.

Paul Nicholls, left to reflect on a fruitless four-horse raid on this meeting, said: Neptune was in the right place and he would have galloped right to the line. It was just one of those silly mistakes and we won’t rush to run him again before February.

Perversely, though, this also made life harder for McCoy, now left in front. I was worried, because it wasn’t where I wanted to be, he said. I’d kept him out of the race to help him settle – I knew if I rode him like I did at Haydock, he wouldn’t win. Few horses have deserved a grade one as much as him. Take out the top two in the Gold Cup and he’s the next best, so we’d feel sick if something happened to them and we weren’t there.

O’Neill, while agreeing that frustration has been paramount in the training of this gifted horse, believed this was the best he has performed since his days of winning big handicaps at Cheltenham. He is likely to return there next month for the Letheby and Christopher Chase before a third try at the Gold Cup, for which Ladbrokes cut him from 33-1 to 12-1.

Nicholls confirmed that Kauto Star is blooming after his third King George win and that Denman will not run before the Aon Chase at Newbury. You wouldn’t know Kauto has had a race – he seems to know when he’s been good. As for Denman, I could run him in a hurdle race but what would it achieve?

The Nicholls runners were second and fourth in the Coral Welsh National on Saturday as Notre Pere provided a first Irish winner of the Chepstow marathon. A year ago yesterday, the winner took the grade one novice chase at Leopardstown, which this time was widely expected to see Trafford Lad maintain his unbeaten record over fences.

Instead, Trafford Lad idled and was caught close home by Casey Jones, while the grade two three-mile hurdle saw a scrambling head victory for the odds-on Catch Me. It was not an advertisement of his prospects for the World Hurdle and Edward O’Grady, his trainer, observed: I don’t think Nicky Henderson will lose any sleep.

Henderson will be watching intently today, though, as the likely Irish threats to his Champion Hurdle favourite, Binocular, line up in the Festival Hurdle. Sizing Europe, the obvious favourite, was slightly lame yesterday, putting his participation in doubt.

Proudinsky beat Ferneley by three-quarters of a length to win the $150,000 San Gabriel Handicap on Sunday, one year after finishing second in the Grade II turf event.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Proudinsky ran 1 1-8 miles in 1:48.53.

Proudinsky paid $4.60, $3.20 and $2.80. Ferneley returned $7.80 and $4.80 while Medici Code, third in last years San Gabriel, paid $3.80 to show.

Bejarano was tapped to ride after Garrett Gomez sustained hand and leg injuries in a spill on Saturday. Gomez said he hopes to return to the saddle on Monday when Santa Anita will have a Pick Six carry-over of $156,069.

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R Clear Victory wins Robb Handicap at Aqueduct

R Clear Victory beat South Fourth St. by 1 1/2 lengths Sunday to win the $85,100 Alex Robb Handicap for New York breds at Aqueduct.

The 5-year-old gelding ridden by Stewart Elliott for trainer Steve Asmussen earned his seventh win in 27 starts. The time was 1:44.85 for 1 1-16 miles on a good track.

R Clear Victory paid $23.80, $11.60 and $7.30. South Fourth St. returned $13.60 and $8.20. Icabad Crane paid $4.80 to show.

Fabulous Strike, the 1-2 favorite, rolled to a 1 3/4 -length win over True Quality on Saturday in the $103,100 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct.

One of the leading sprinters in the nation, Fabulous Strike made the task easier by scaring away half the competition. Eight horses were entered for the six-furlong race, but only four showed up.

True Quality took charge early and Ramon Dominguez let Fabulous Strike settle in second, an ideal stalking trip. Fabulous Strike, fifth in the Breeders Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in late October, simply overpowered the pacesetter in the deep stretch. The time was 1:09.74 over a track rated good at the foggy Big A.

Fabulous Strike, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Todd Beattie, earned $64,860 for owner Walter Downey. He got his 12th victory in 19 career starts, paying $3.10 and $2.30.

True Quality held for second, returning $3.50. Good Card was third followed by Lucky Island.

Indian Blessing beat Ginger Pop by 1 1/2 lengths to take the $250,000 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Santa Anita.

Bsharpsonata was a nose back in the field of seven.

Under John Velazquez, Indian Blessing recorded her sixth victory of 2008 in 1:20.59. The winning purse of $150,000 increased her career earnings to $2,437,200. She paid $3.20, $2.60 and $2.10 and has posted a 6-3-0 record in nine starts this year for earnings of $1,080,000.

The 36th running of the La Brea was marred by an injury to front-running Indyanne, who took a bad step and was pulled up nearing mid-stretch. Jockey Russell Baze was not injured. Track veterinarian Dr. Jill Bailey said there was a possibility the gray filly might be saved.

A race prior, Garrett Gomez, the nations leading rider for a third straight year, was injured when his mount, Back At You, ducked into the rail during the stretch run of the $78,070 Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds. The jockey appeared to tumble headfirst onto the turf and might have been struck by his mount as the horse attempted to rise. Back At You eventually got to his feet and was not seriously injured.

Gomez was transported by ambulance to Arcadia Methodist Hospital. According to his agent, Ron Anderson, Gomez had several teeth knocked out, sustained a gash on his left knee and a swollen left hand. It remained unclear if he would be able to ride again before years end.

Following the incident in the Eddie Logan, Flashmans Papers went on to win by a half length over 17-10 favorite Kelly Leak in the one-mile turf event with Congor Bay a neck back in third. The winning time was 1:36.61

He paid $14.20 to win and earned $45,870 to increase his career bankroll to $150,180 from a 3-0-2 record in eleven starts.

Earlier Saucey Evening took the 29th running of the $125,000 California Breeders Champion Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Saucey Evening finished 2 1/2 lengths in front of Spanish Ice, who overtook pacesetter Ten Churros by 1 1/2 lengths. The winner paid $4, $3 and $2.20. Spanish Ice, the longest shot in the field at 22-1 with David Flores aboard, returned $13 and $5. The show price on Ten Churros, ridden by Velazquez, was $2.80.

Saucey Evenings winnings of $75,000 boosted her career total to $250,390.

A high cruising speed and good jumping technique are essential over fences around Kempton Park and Voy Por Ustedes, who is a proven top-class performer over shorter, can successfully step up in distance to land the Stan James King George VI Chase (2,40) there today.

The history of this race is littered with winners who were previously thought to be better over shorter, from Desert Orchid and One Man in the Eighties and Nineties to, more recently, Edredon Bleu (2003) and Kicking King (2004). Voy Por Ustedes looks just the type to follow in their hoofprints.

Although well established in the highest grade over two miles – he won the Arkle Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in 2006 and the Champion Chase last year – he was no match for the outstanding Master Minded when trying to defend his crown in March. However, he relished a step up to two-and-a-half miles when turning that form around at Aintree in no uncertain terms with an 18-length victory.

Voy Por Ustedes shaped really well over the same course and distance on his reappearance back in October, finishing an honourable fourth to Knowhere under top weight having looked a big threat until making an uncharacteristic mistake two out. He should be sharper with that run under his belt and, a winner on both previous starts at this track, he looks a value bet at 7-2 with William Hill.
Kauto Star has won this for the past two years, but has not looked at his best since suffering a crushing defeat by Denman in the Gold Cup in March. He was challenging when unseating his rider at the last in the Betfair Chase at Haydock last time, but was far from certain to have beaten Snoopy Loopy. Having said that, Kauto Star made hard work of beating Exotic Dancer in the same race a year ago before recording a most impressive win here, so it would be foolish to write him off.

Our Vic, runner-up 12 months ago, has won both starts since being fitted with blinkers, most notably when leading on the line to beat Kauto Star by a nose at Aintree in April. He again holds strong place claims, but should not quite be good enough to win.

Air Force One and Imperial Commander are both on the up, particularly the latter, who impressed when beating Barbers Shop in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in October. However, both have plenty to find if they are to challenge the more established performers.

Nicky Henderson dominated the hurdle races at Ascot on Saturday and his Punjabi will be a warm order in the Stan James Christmas Hurdle (2.05). However, he may not cope with the progressive Snap Tie. An excellent third behind Captain Cee Bee and Binocular in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, he improved again to beat Katchit in good style over this course and distance in October. This progressive gelding can put himself firmly in the Champion Hurdle picture by landing a first success in the highest grade.

Henderson may have better luck earlier on the card with The Market Man in the Nigel Clark Feltham Novices’ Chase (1.30). He has had more than his fair share of injuries, but is a class act when fully fit and looked as though he retains all of his ability when easily beating Kicks For Free at Newbury last month. This half-mile longer trip should see him in an even better light and he can prove too strong for Breedsbreeze.

Tidal Bay bypasses the King George in favour of the skybet.com Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase (1.45) at Wetherby. He has yet to prove his stamina, however, and may struggle to concede a stone to State Of Play. The latter beat Ollie Magern here on his reappearance and remains fairly weighted off just a 7lb higher mark than when landing the 2006 Hennessy.

When your body has been drilled damagingly into the same patch of Cheltenham racecourse on the corresponding Saturday of two consecutive seasons, it is natural for the mind to seek solace. For Ruby Walsh, it came with anticipation of Christmas – not in the conventional, festive sense that appeals to ordinary folk, but in longing thoughts of an unlovely racecourse alongside the M3.

Jump jockeys cling to sanity only through obstinate refusal to acknowledge pain or risk and Walsh’s response to two serious injuries reflected the spirit of the genre. No self pity, no malingering, just unwavering belief that he would be back to ride Kauto Star at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.

Both times, I was going to be back for Christmas at all costs, he said. I wasn’t going to be sitting at home watching this race – especially now, with Kauto trying to win it a third time. I never thought I’d ride a horse that won two King Georges. To be going to Kempton with a chance of three is wonderful.

This time around, despite the removal of his spleen and the associated worries of internal injuries, Walsh has returned feeling far better than he did after the shoulder surgery of a year ago. I was stiff last year. When you injure a limb, you’re getting fit and getting going again with three limbs. It’s the one that’s injured you can’t fully work on.

I probably wasn’t 100 per cent when I rode in the race last year but I’d do the same thing again, no doubt. This time, I started to feel well very quickly once I was out of hospital and I was soon champing at the bit. I knew I’d be back in four weeks and there have been no side-effects. The only discomfort at first was that they were all getting beat.

In the absence of his regular rider, Kauto Star’s career suffered one of its periodic dips with a last-fence exit in the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park. I was watching on the couch at home and I felt real disappointment. Because I’m so fond of him, I always expect him to be out of this world, even if I know that’s not possible.

My first reaction after a fall is to be sure the human gets up. But once I saw Sam Thomas was all right, I worried about Kauto, because he’d done the splits and could easily have hurt himself. But, you know, I never thought he was beat when it happened. He wasn’t going to be impressive but I think he’d have won.

Walsh has been part of such runs before. I’d say he has won six grade ones with wonderful performances but he’s also scraped home a few times – even when he won the Gold Cup, he wasn’t as good as he can be. He can win being exuberant or he can win in a dogfight and I’d have enormous respect for him winning even when he hasn’t been 100 per cent.

Things didn’t happen for him in the Gold Cup last March – the ground was patchy and he didn’t jump as he can, though in fairness Denman put him to the sword all the way. At Aintree afterwards, I made a mess of it. I should have followed Our Vic rather than giving him a lead. But you live and learn.

It is a measure of the relationship between Walsh and Paul Nicholls, the trainer, that both took the blame for that Aintree defeat. Occasionally, in the after-race tension, they might snap at each other but their closeness can be judged by the volume of text messages, quite apart from the mutual admiration.

Walsh was at Ditcheat last week for the schooling session that has preceded each of Kauto’s three King Georges. He hasn’t changed at all. Silly little things still frighten him, yet you could set a bomb off and he’d be all right. That’s the way he’s always been.

He’s more relaxed on the track and his second win was much easier than the first. Everyone remembers how he missed the last fence that day but the mistake he made at the fourth-last was just as bad. Last year, everything went to plan and by the time we jumped the second down the back, there was only going to be one winner. I was running away.

As ever with Kauto Star, pundits are disparaging him, trying to find reasons why he will fail. Walsh is amused rather than offended. People always want to knock the top. Even Istabraq got slagged and he was the greatest hurdler I ever saw. They’ll knock Manchester United, or Australia’s top teams. It’s part of life but it doesn’t worry me. I know how good Kauto Star is and I have total faith in him.