BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Steve Margolis had scheduled Cajun Beat's final workout for Saturday's $100,000 Deputy Minister Handicap for early Monday morning at the Palm Meadows training center here. But when heavy fog shrouded the course, making it impossible for Margolis to watch his horse train, he postponed the work until after the break, nearly two hours later.
When Cajun Beat finally got to work, Margolis loved what he saw.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 2004 campaigns of Pleasantly Perfect and Congaree are likely to take divergent paths after they finished first and last in Saturday's $250,000 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita.
Trainer Richard Mandella said Pleasantly Perfect is bound for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 6 and might also run in the $6 million Dubai World Cup on March 27.
Congaree, who finished 8 1/4 lengths behind Pleasantly Perfect in the four-horse field, may spend the rest of his season in sprints, trainer Bob Baffert said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Mambo Dancer may relish the conditions Wednesday at Santa Anita when he makes his U.S. debut in a $56,000 allowance race.
An import from Chile, has won his last four starts, at distances from about seven furlongs to about 1 3/16 miles. Two of the wins were on muddy tracks, and the forecast Wednesday is for rain.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Cole Norman will be hoping for a fast track Wednesday when he starts Electrode in the featured eighth race at Oaklawn Park. Electrode, who has won half of his 12 career starts, is out to rebound from a sixth-place finish in the $60,000 Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds on Nov. 27.
"The track was sloppy and he just fell apart," said Norman, who trains Electrode for Jack Brooks.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - South Africa might be the next big thing from the Cole Norman stable. A 3-year-old, South Africa had a wide trip last Saturday, when he won a tough entry-level allowance in good time.
South Africa settled behind the pace of the six-furlong race Saturday, then drifted out near the middle of the track coming into the stretch. He got back on course in the drive and won by three-quarters of a length under Jamie Theriot.
Norman said that South Africa shied from another horse on the turn.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The 3-year-old named after New York Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui has Godzilla-like shoes to fill if he is going to be as successful as his namesake, but the gelding is already off to a promising start.
Sunday at Aqueduct, Matsui earned his second win from three starts. He is trained by Derek Ryan, who co-owns the horse with Ronnie and Bernie Masone and Barbara Kurtin. Ryan said Matsui now will be pointed to the $75,000 Best Turn Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 21.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Doug Utley remembers Her First Maki's last start as if it were yesterday, not nearly three years ago.
Her First Maki scored a three-quarter-length decision over Beyond Brilliant in the Sutter Handicap. The 1:08.40 clocking for six furlongs earned the young 3-year-old a Beyer Speed Figure of 96.
After the race, run Feb. 10, 2001, Utley spoke with Greg Gilchrist, the trainer of Beyond Brilliant.
"I told Greg it was such a hard race it might take mine from a stakes winner to a $6,250 claimer," Utley said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Racing at Gulfstream Park was canceled for the second straight day Monday because the jockeys deemed the track unsafe after heavy rains over the weekend.
Monday's nine-race program was canceled just prior to the first race despite sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70's. The field for the first race, a six-furlong claiming race for 3-year-old fillies, left the paddock and made it to the starting gate before the jockeys decided not to continue.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bluesthestandard ended a six-race losing streak in Sunday's $150,000 at Santa Anita, a span that covered the toughest sprints in California.
Making his first start since finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint here last October, Bluesthestandard caught Marino Marini in the final furlong of the Palos Verdes and won by a length.
Ridden by Mike Smith for trainer Ted H. West, Bluesthestandard finished six furlongs in 1:08.13.
NEW ORLEANS - In trainer Dick Mandella's barn, Pleasantly Perfect is the all-star handicap horse. Olmodavor, the understudy, isn't bad either. A day after Pleasantly Perfect won the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita, Olmodavor out-kicked Spanish Empire to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Whirlaway Handicap at Fair Grounds.