GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Track officials at Fonner Park on Thursday morning made the decision to cancel Friday's card after a storm left the racing surface, as well as the city, covered in a layer of ice.
Freezing rain and sleet began falling Tuesday afternoon and continued well into Wednesday, leaving more than an inch of ice covering the track. Temperatures Thursday were forecast to reach only the mid-30's with overcast conditions.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rose to Gold will be heading into next month's Kentucky Oaks in top form after winning her second consecutive Grade 3 stakes Wednesday, the $400,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park. She led throughout for a 4 1/2-length win over Manuka Honey, while it was another length back in third to Marathon Lady.
The Fantasy opened the 39th annual Racing Festival of the South, a weeklong series of stakes run over the final four dates of the Oaklawn meet. The eight stakes are worth a cumulative $2.9 million, with the festival to continue Thursday with the $100,000 Carousel.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Abigail Adsit, a former assistant trainer to Linda Rice, won her first two races last week since going out on her own earlier this year.
On Friday, Adsit won a starter allowance at Aqueduct with Giant Indian. On Saturday, she won a $7,500 claiming race at Parx Racing with Miss Mexique. From seven starters, she has had two winners and a third.
"It was unbelievable, an honor, a lot of hard work that paid off," Adsit said about her first two wins.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Cluster of Stars, the undefeated New York-bred filly, will meet six rivals in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap at six furlongs.
Cluster of Stars drew post 4 and will be ridden by Junior Alvarado, who replaces Javier Castellano, who is at Keeneland on Saturday.
Cluster of Stars, a daughter of Greeley's Galaxy, has won all four of her races over Aqueduct's inner track. Two starts back she won the Correction Stakes over the eight-time stakes winner Nicole H.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher said that Ciao Bella, who won the Grade 3 Rampart at Gulfstream on March 30, is getting a freshening at the Peyton training center in Ocala, Fla.
Pletcher said that there is no physical issue with Ciao Bella, he just wants to have a fresh horse for the summer and fall.
"We'll give her a little freshening and bring her back at Saratoga," Pletcher said.
Ciao Bella has run eight times since last July and has won her last two, an allowance at Gulfstream followed by the Rampart, her first graded stakes victory.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – A significant chunk of the winner’s share of $86,478 earned by Mr Ease Cartel in Sunday’s $205,900 El Primero Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos will finance getting the colt in other major stakes this year.
Already, the partnership that owns Mr Ease Cartel has paid a $25,000 fee to supplement him to the All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs later this summer. On July 1, the partnership will owe a $30,000 supplemental fee to make Mr Ease Cartel eligible for the $1 million Los Alamitos Super Derby in November.
American Sugar will be cutting back to six furlongs in the Instant Racing for 3-year-old fillies on Friday at Oaklawn Park. The race is being held at one turn for the first time since its inaugural running in 1996, when it was run as the Althea. She is part of a 10-horse field that includes Blueeyesintherein, making her first start since winning last summer’s Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs, and Boss Barney’s Babe, a recent allowance winner at Fair Grounds.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – There’s a first time for everything, even at a track as old as Keeneland.
Wise Dan will become the first reigning Horse of the Year to make a comeback at 76-year-old Keeneland when he runs Friday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile, something that makes the gelding’s trainer, Charlie LoPresti, quite proud.
“It’s an honor because this is home,” said LoPresti, based at Keeneland for the last 15 years. “We’ll lead him over hoping he can start off another great year with a win.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Grace Hall was one of the top 3-year-old fillies in training last season with wins in the Gulfstream, Delaware, and Indiana Oaks. Her bid to become a major player in the older filly and mare ranks begins in earnest Friday, in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.
Betting on races at the Fair Grounds 2012-2013 meet declined 8.25-percent compared to the previous racing season, with the New Orleans track experiencing a significantly steeper decline in March, when average daily handle dropped about 18 percent compared to the same month one year earlier.
The 83-day Fair Grounds meet ended March 31, but business figures for the season weren’t available from the Louisiana State Racing Commission until Wednesday. Fair Grounds, as per the policy of its parent company, Churchill Downs Incorporated, doesn’t publicize betting handle.
