Willie Gotta Pie and Jabonerita Chicks, who finished a head apart while running one-two in the Madeira Beach Handicap on Feb. 20, will meet again in the $26,600 La Pacifica Handicap for 3-year-old fillies over 350 yards Friday night at Los Alamitos.
Sent off at 23-1 in the Madeira Beach, a 300-yard stakes, Willie Gotta Pie used a late run to win, and he could enjoy the extra 50 yards of the La Pacifica.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It just so happens that in the one year Churchill Downs might dearly love to have a few extra days to prepare for the first Saturday in May, the Kentucky Derby will be run as early as the calendar will allow: May 1.
With a mere six weeks before Derby 130, Churchill officials are working feverishly to ensure that their complex array of temporary facilities and contingency plans for what is being called "The Demolition Derby" will be ready for the usual large crowd.
NEW ORLEANS - It is like wind coming over a lake. The talk gusts around the railbirds in the grandstand and up through the glittering pinkie rings in the clubhouse's private rooms. Be it $2 or $2,000, you can bet your money: Bobby likes this horse.
"Every time I run a first-timer from Europe with any kind of form, he goes off favored," said trainer Bobby Frankel. And then he added: "Whether I like the horse or not."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita Oaks winner Silent Sighs will be fresh and rested when she makes her next start April 30 in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
"I don't want to run too many times, and she runs huge fresh," said her trainer, Julio Canani.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The China Doll Stakes is an overnight race with a mere $70,000 purse. So when graded stakes winner Mambo Slew faces nine other 3-year-old fillies in the mile turf race Thursday at Santa Anita, wise guys will scheme to beat her.
has won three straight, including two stakes, and enters as the class of the field. But with big money on the horizon, there is little reason for Mambo Slew to be fully cranked. Trainer Patrick Biancone recognizes the dilemma. "It's not the main objective, but I will be very disappointed if she does not win," he said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Jimmy Jerkens was looking forward to a productive winter at Aqueduct with Snake Mountain, who had won three inner-track stakes at the 2002-2003 meet.
Those plans fell through, however, when Snake Mountain developed an abscess in his right hind foot. When Snake Mountain failed to respond to routine treatment, he was sent in December to the New Jersey Equine Clinic and treated by Dr. Patty Hogan.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - On Tuesday at Aqueduct, Redskin Warrior was aggressive in his final work for Saturday's $200,000 Gotham Stakes. After covering a half-mile in 47.48 seconds, Redskin Warrior appeared eager for more and didn't make it easy for jockey Richard Migliore to pull him up.
As Migliore rode Redskin Warrior back to trainer Jennifer Pedersen's barn, he told Pedersen and owner Ernie Paragallo that Redskin Warrior is well prepared for Saturday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Cryptograph has picked the right time to come to hand. Immature as a 2-year-old, he has blossomed at 3 and will be seeking his fourth straight win Saturday when he makes his stakes debut in the $200,000 Rebel at Oaklawn Park.
The 1 1/16-mile race is the first leg of a $5 million bonus series sponsored by Oaklawn. A horse who wins the Rebel, the $1 million Arkansas Derby, and the Kentucky Derby would receive the bonus from Oaklawn president Charles Cella.
Last year Strength Within and Aristocat were Kentucky Derby hopefuls. Now they are simply trying the clear the two-other-than allowance condition.
The two 4-year-olds highlight Thursday's featured eighth race at Gulfstream Park, an optional claiming race for allowance horses or $50,000 claimers at a mile and 70 yards.
This will not be the first time the two have faced each other. A little over a year ago, they raced in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, with Aristocat finishing second behind Region of Merit, two lengths in front of fifth-place Strength Within.
