Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Collusion Illusion vanishes from Palos Verdes; to be rested
Collusion Illusion, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar last summer, will not start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita.
Trainer Mark Glatt said Collusion Illusion will be rested for a campaign in the second half of the year geared toward the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“He’s going to skip the race,” Glatt said Wednesday. “We’re going to have a little bit of a break with him.
“He’s had a bit of a campaign. Recently, his attitude hasn’t been the best.”
Collusion Illusion finished third in the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds on Dec. 26, the sixth race of his 2020 campaign. Collusion Illusion has had one workout since the Malibu, going a half-mile in 48.40 seconds on Jan. 9.
Owned by the partnership of Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, Rodney Orr, and MyRacehorse. com, Collusion Illusion has won 5 of 9 starts and earned $458,751. Aside from the Bing Crosby at six furlongs last August, Collusion Illusion was unbeaten in two starts there in 2019, including the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds.
The 2021 Bing Crosby is a long-range goal, along with the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Collusion Illusion was 12th of 14 in the BC Sprint at Keeneland in November.
“We feel like his Del Mar form is impeccable,” Glatt said. “We want him nice and fresh and mentally sharp going into the late spring, summer, and fall. Now would be as good a time as ever to give him a break.”
The Palos Verdes at six furlongs is the first major sprint for older horses on dirt of the winter-spring meeting. The projected starters are Ax Man, Captain Scotty, Kneedeepinsnow, Pyron, Shashashakemeup, Shooters Shoot, Take the One O One, and Wildman Jack.
The Palos Verdes is the only graded stakes at Santa Anita this weekend. Sunday’s main race is the $70,000 Clocker’s Corner Stakes, at six furlongs on turf, which is restricted to nonwinners of a graded stakes since the beginning of 2020.
Hernandez fined $1,000
Juan Hernandez, the leading rider at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, was fined $1,000 by track stewards on Monday for excessive use of the whip.
Hernandez was cited for using his whip more than six times on Lucky Peridot, who finished fourth in Sunday’s Grade 3 Astra Stakes. Hernandez was sanctioned for his third such offense in the last 60 days.
The California Horse Racing Board toughened whip rules in October, limiting the frequency of strikes allowed in a race and mandating that whips be used only in an under-handed motion.
Through Monday, Hernandez had won 19 races since opening day on Dec. 26, and held a four-race lead over Joel Rosario. Umberto Rispoli and Flavien Prat were tied for third with 14 wins, the only other riders with a doubledigit number of wins.
Those standings could change this weekend. Prat and Rosario are booked to ride at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, and are not booked to ride Friday.
In other rulings, trainers Dan Dunham and Art Sherman were fined $750 each earlier this month for failing to file papers with racing officials noting that horses in their care were racing as geldings for the first time at the Los Alamitos December meeting.
Restrainedvengence doing well
Restrainedvengence won three stakes at three venues and earned $265,500 in a sevenrace campaign in 2020. Trainer Val Brinkerhoff expects more this year, beginning in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf Feb. 6 at Santa Anita.
Recently, Restrainedvengence has been fitted with glueon shoes as opposed to conventional shoes applied with nails. Brinkerhoff said the 6-year-old gelding has been “a lot better to handle.”
“He’s a lot more relaxed,” Brinkerhoff said. “I think he’ll be a better horse this year.
“We don’t have to fight him to shoe him anymore. He doesn’t give you any trouble.”
Owned by Kelly Brinkerhoff and Bob Grayson Jr., Restrainedvengence has won 8 of 26 starts and earned $625,772. In 2020, Restrainedvengence won the Curribot Handicap at Sunland Park in March, the All American Stakes on turf at Golden Gate Fields in May, and The Downs at Albuquerque Handicap in September.
The $100,000 Thunder Road Stakes could be Restrainedvengence’s first graded stakes win. Restrainedvengence was third by a neck in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs in August 2019 and second by a head in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita in October 2019.
Restrainedvengence was last of seven in the City of Hope Mile on Oct. 3 and has worked steadily for a return, including five furlongs in 1:01 on Monday.