ALBANY, Calif. - Saturday's $55,000-added Danville Handicap at Golden Gate Fields is just the latest in a series of strong sprint stakes in northern California.
Stakes winners, runners with triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, speedsters, stalkers - the Danville has it all, not to mention several key question marks.
The biggest question mark in the race concerns El Dorado Shooter, who sports the best credentials in the field of eight and who got an advantageous draw in post 7.
The New York Racing Association canceled Friday's nine-race card at Aqueduct because of a forecast that called for more than four inches of snow. The track was also closed for simulcasting on Friday.
The nine races that were to be run on Friday will now be run on Sunday. Additionally, Aqueduct will be open for live racing on Monday, normally a dark day. Monday's card will consist of the races in the condition book for Sunday. Entries will be taken on Saturday for Monday's card.
Friday's cancellation is Aqueduct's 11th of the winter, but the first since Feb. 6.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Gran Prospect, who was beaten just three-quarters of a length by The Cliff's Edge last year in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, will add blinkers for the $200,000 Rebel for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.
Run at 1 1/16 miles, the Rebel will be Gran Prospect's second start as a 3-year-old. In his last out, Gran Prospect finished second, eight lengths behind Pure American, in an entry-level allowance at Oaklawn on Feb. 28. Pure American is headed for the Grade 2 Illinois Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Of the 19 3-year-olds trainer D. Wayne Lukas nominated to the Triple Crown, Quick Action is the only one to have won a race this year. Quick Action earned that victory in the six-furlong Fred "Cappy" Capossela Stakes over Aqueduct's inner track in January.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The field for the April 3 Santa Anita Derby is in flux, with several trainers considering sending locally based horses out of town for their final Kentucky Derby tune-ups, but two of the top contenders for that race began serious preparations on Wednesday for the West's key Derby prep race.
Imperialism and Lion Heart, the one-two finishers in the San Rafael Stakes, both had their first works since that March 6 race. Imperialism covered a half-mile at Hollywood Park in 47.60 seconds, while Lion Heart breezed a half-mile at Santa Anita in 48.60 seconds.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Honeypenny has already won after a lengthy layoff, and she has won on the downhill turf course. In Friday's featured allowance race at Santa Anita, she combines those two strengths, as she returns from a three-month vacation to head a downhill turf sprint.
Only five were entered in the feature, and because of the small field, the race will be kept out of the pick six. It will be run as the second race on an eight-race card. Post time is 1 p.m.
Jockey Patti Cooksey has been named to ride in the 10th race at Turfway Park on Friday evening, her first mount since breaking her leg in a spill at Keeneland on April 12.
Cooksey, 46, has ridden 2,136 winners, second only to Julie Krone among female jockeys in North American racing history. In recent years, her career has been marked by physical challenges, including a battle with breast cancer.
Jockey Danny Boag was suspended on March 9 for allegedly placing a wager or wagers on a race at Portland Meadows in which he was scheduled to ride.
Oregon Racing Commission rules state: "No jockey shall wager on any race or accept the promise of any wager with respect to a race in which he or she is riding, except from the owner or trainer of the horse the jockey is riding, and only on that horse."