ALBANY, Calif. - Fans at Golden Gate Fields could see jockey Russell Baze reach a milestone Sunday.
Going into Friday's card, Baze has 394 victories this year and is trying to reach 400 victories for the 11th time in the past 12 years. He had seven mounts each on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
"It's a milestone every year," said Baze of the 400 wins mark. "It looks like I'll do it by the end of the week, not the end of the year."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 25, and first choice for the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 21, Victory U. S. A. only needed a plan to get there. Two months is a long time.
"I didn't want to sit on her so long before the Starlet, and I have to work her seven-eighths anyway," trainer Bob Baffert said. So rather than train, Victory U. S. A. will race - seven furlongs Sunday in the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes at Hollywood Park.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Coming off a dominant victory against two horses in the Cowdin Stakes, the undefeated Smokume faces only marginally tougher competition Sunday when he faces four rivals in the $75,000 Huntington Stakes at Aqueduct.
Entering the Cowdin, trainer Allen Jerkens had questions about the quality of Smokume. Though he had won his first two starts, Smokume had not overly impressed Jerkens. But in the Cowdin, Smokume rated between horses, took over when roused, and drew clear to a 5 1/4-length victory.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If he stayed in New York this winter, Norberto Arroyo Jr. could have made a lot of money and contended for leading rider honors at Aqueduct.
But Arroyo, 27, is looking at the big picture, which is why he is eschewing New York to spend the winter in south Florida.
MIAMI - Silver Wagon breezed an easy three furlongs in 37.40 seconds Friday at Calder, his second work since he was taken out of training due to a minor respiratory infection that prevented him from competing in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes.
Silver Wagon, a gray son of Wagon Limit, would have been among the favorites in the Champagne coming off his decisive victory in the Grade 1 Hopeful three weeks earlier.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hour after countless hour of hard work could result in one of the greatest days of Ron Isbell Jr.'s life Sunday.
Isbell is the owner, trainer, exercise rider, and groom for Gretchen's Star, an 8-year-old gelding who will start as a full-of-hope longshot in the River City Handicap at Churchill Downs. Once written off as completely finished, Gretchen's Star has earned over $300,000, almost all of it since Isbell assumed the gelding's care some four years ago.
To most, the math does not make sense. Excessivepleasure, a Southern California-based colt who won the $400,000 Indiana Derby in his last start, has shipped halfway across the country to run for $150,000 in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday.
But racing is not always about finance. It's about being disciplined enough to choose the proper race for a horse to ensure his longevity, and that appears to be the route owners Lee and Ty Leatherman and trainer Doug O'Neill are taking with Excessivepleasure.
CHICAGO - A mixed bag of seven horses was entered for Sunday's featured fourth race at Hawthorne, the Prompt Angel Stakes at five furlongs on turf. If turf sprints are anomalies in this country, this race is an anomaly with variety. There are claimers moving to stakes, route horses switching to sprints, and dirt horses trying turf - somewhere, there must even be a winner.
In his three derby wins, Excessivepleasure has never received the kind of respect at the windows he will command Sunday when he starts as a heavy favorite in the Grade 3, $150,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.
Excessivepleasure has the look of a standout in the 1 1/8-mile derby, the richest race of the Remington meet. He is by far the most accomplished runner in the Oklahoma Derby field with 5 wins from 10 career starts, including the WinStar Derby at Sunland Park, the Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows, and the Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park, and has earnings of $889,582.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Winter Garden, the most accomplished 3-year-old filly sprinter in Canada, will seek her third consecutive win against older opponents Sunday at Woodbine in the $164,400 Bessarabian Handicap.
Winter Garden has had a lucrative campaign, winning 5 of 8 starts while banking $372,186. She won her first stakes April 5 in the six-furlong Star Shoot, and showed she could handle 1 1/16 miles when she finished third after a dead-rail trip in the Grade 1 Selene Stakes.