When Ellen Jackson bred the graded stakes-winning sprinter Olympio to the mare Jumberca, she expected the foal “to be a fast little guy.”
She was right.
Olympic Jumble was never headed winning his debut last month at Golden Gate Fields, and on Saturday he faces four other 2-year-olds in the $50,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes at the Albany, Calif, track.
Five were entered in the five-furlong race over the Golden Gate Tapeta main track: three who have won and two first-time starters.
[bc_video_id:295465:]Clearly, trainer Mac Robertson doesn’t fear doing things in an unconventional way. Just one week after watching his 5-year-old mare Bryan’s Jewel match her career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 91 by scoring an easy victory in the off-the-turf John Rooney Memorial Stakes, Robertson is giving serious consideration to bringing her right back in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park.
Trainer Greg Tracy has an excellent chance of sweeping the $50,000 Chariot Chaser and the $50,000 Western Canada for 3-year-olds at Northlands Park on Saturday. After all, two of the four horses entered in the six-furlong Chariot Chaser for 3-year-old fillies, Ten Thirty and Tell Me Lies, are trained by Tracy. He also will be leading over Tigger Town and Tony the Tank in the Western Canada, which drew five horses.
Because of the short field in the Chariot Chaser, there will be no place or show wagering. Show wagering is not being offered in the six-furlong Western Canada.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fifty Proof is the class of Saturday’s $125,000 Steady Growth Stakes, but Ultimate Destiny brings a two-race winning streak into the 1 1/16-mile route for Ontario-sired stock at Woodbine.
Fifty Proof was Canada’s champion older male in 2011 after winning the Grade 3 Eclipse Stakes and running second in a pair of Grade 2 turf stakes, the King Edward and the Nijinsky. Following an extended layoff, he returned last December to take the restricted Sir Barton Stakes in front-running style going long on the Polytrack.
ELMONT, N.Y. – As agent Steve Rushing made the rounds at Belmont Park on Thursday morning, he had the unenviable task of delivering the news that no horseman or racing fan wanted to hear: Jockey Ramon Dominguez has been forced to retire.
Rushing, who has served as Dominguez’s agent for 13 years, probably encapsulated Dominguez best with the following: “He’s a world-class rider, but he’s even a better person. It’s just devastating to lose someone like that in our industry.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Carl Lausten said Dance the Wind came out of her win in the $50,000 Vancouver Sun last Sunday in great shape and likely will be pointed to the $50,000, 1 1/16-mile Monashee on July 1.
The Sun was the first stakes win for Dance the Wind, but she had strong credentials going into the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares. Last year, she finished second behind Evelyn’s Dancer in the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks.
The connections of several graded stakes winners will keep an eye to the sky as the first of five “Party of the Park” Fridays is highlighted by a pair of $90,000 overnight stakes. First post is 3 p.m. Eastern, as it will be each Friday through the end of the meet.
A forecast for potential heavy rain and thunderstorms arriving Thursday afternoon could wreak havoc with comeback plans for Mucho Macho Man in the Criminal Type (race 3), and Hudson Steele in the Three Coins Up (race 5).
AUBURN, Wash. – While horsemen struggled to fill races early in the 75-day meeting at Emerald Downs, the tide has turned over the past couple of weeks. When racing resumes Friday with a seven-race card at 6:45 p.m. Pacific, the fields will include an average of 9.7 horses per race, making it one of the most intriguing betting cards of the meeting.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Ronald Ardoin will join elite company on June 29 when he is inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. The popular rider-turned-jockey’s agent will join six other riders and an owner in the hall, which inducted its first class in 1958.
Ardoin’s contemporaries Eddie Delahoussaye, Mark Guidry, Craig Perret, and Randy Romero are all members of the Hall, as are Eric Guerin, rider of Native Dancer, and J.D. Mooney, who piloted the legendary Black Gold. Eclipse Award-winning owner John Franks was inducted in 1995.
