Fuse It held off favorite Prized Amberpro by three-quarters of length to win the $50,000 Camelia at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., on Friday night. It was another 5 1/2 lengths back to Light Fling in third.
Fuse It ($19.80) settled in fourth early in the 6 1/2-furlong race for statebred fillies and mares before overtaking the leaders through the stretch. She covered the distance, which was run over a muddy track, in 1:20.77.
NEW ORLEANS - Finally, things had gone the way trainer Gary Palmisano had mapped them out. Each fall, it seemed, he would enter Coach Rags in a prep race for the Louisiana Champions Day Turf, and like clockwork, the Fair Grounds grass course would come up wet the day of the prep. The race would be moved to dirt, Coach Rags would scratch, and he would go into the Turf without a race under a belt, exactly what Palmisano had tried to avoid.
NEW ORLEANS - Two months and two races ago Shiloh Bound was a maiden claimer. Now he is a stakes winner. Shiloh Bound went to the lead Saturday in the $60,000 Black Gold Handicap at Fair Grounds. Bachelor Blues, a graded stakes winner last summer, looked him in the eye and gained an advantage in midstretch, but Shiloh Bound battled on and won by a half-length.
OLDSMAR, FLA. - The face of racing has changed dramatically since the advent of full-card simulcasting. It used to be most customers were at the track watching races live, but these days the majority of money bet at any given track comes from bettors at outlets around the country.
That's why the quality of a track's video package is critical.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct was one of several tracks to cancel on Saturday due to the extreme cold that has gripped the northeast. The decision to cancel Aqueduct's nine-race card was made by 8 a.m. when the temperature was 1 degree and the wind chill factor was well-below zero.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - One is speedy, and the other is a closer.
One is trained by someone on a fast track to the Hall of Fame. The other is trained by someone who has been in the Hall for nearly 30 years.
Beyond those differences, , who will clash as the favorites in the $100,000 The First Lady Handicap at Gulfstream Park, are very similar. Both are classy and consistent sprinters who have captured Grade 1 events; both are mainstays of the Florida-New York circuit; and both could surpass the $1 million earnings mark if they produce this year like they did last year.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The $500,000 Donn Handicap is still four weeks away, but this year's renewal of the Grade 1 race has the potential to be one of the best in recent years.
Trainer Bobby Frankel confirmed Friday that he is "leaning towards the Donn" with , the Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up and one of the finalists for an Eclipse Award in the older male category.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Six furlongs may not be the optimum distance for . Yet the concern is minimal relative to the discomforting pace scenario that every other 3-year-old faces Sunday in the Grade 3 San Miguel Stakes at Santa Anita.
Five of the seven San Miguel entrants are front-runners. The group consists of Hosco, unbeaten after two starts; The Herc, a two-time stakes winner at six furlongs; Roi Charmant, a wire-to-wire maiden winner; Gethsemani, one-two at the first pace call in every start; and the filly Hot Weekend. Panama shipper Latitude completes the field.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A large-scale exodus from Southern California of horses claimed in recent months by owner Michael Gill has prompted Jack Liebau, the president of Santa Anita, to seek dialog with Gill over Gill's plans.
Gill, along with trainer Nick Canani, has claimed 71 horses at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park since Oct. 24. About 30 of those horses have left the circuit. They have not been replaced by a similar number of horses, Liebau said Friday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - To say that trainer Pat Kelly wasn't thrilled with the 123 pounds that carried when he was second in the Queens County Handicap last month would be an understatement.
"He had no chance going in with the weight; he was a dead duck going in," Kelly said Friday morning at his Belmont Park barn after Evening Attire worked five furlongs in 1:01.43.
Evening Attire, who spotted his five rivals eight to 11 pounds in the Queens County, was beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Thunder Blitz, who carried 114.
