OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Value Plus grabbed the quarter on his right front foot when he stumbled and dropped jockey John Velazquez coming out of the gate in Sunday's Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Value Plus lost his footing and clipped his front foot with his right hind foot. Velazquez was not injured.
ALBANY, Calif. - Stakes-winning I'm a Soccer Boy and stakes-placed At Dawn and Grandpa Chan will meet in Thursday's Golden Gate Fields feature, a 1 1/16-mile $40,000 optional claimer for 3-year-olds on the turf.
I'm a Soccer Boy, who won the Trooper Seven at Emerald Downs two starts back, and Club Forty One are the only two runners among the six entrants running for a tag. Banker Boy and Shadow Raider complete the field.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Literary Light is the one to beat when she returns to her favorite surface in a $56,000 money allowance race for filly and mare sprinters Thursday at Aqueduct.
There is a pick six carryover of $25,630.
Also entered in the six-furlong race are Silk Concorde, Lilah, Golden Made, Bonefide Reason, A. P. Andie, and Lights On.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the first seven races of his career, Premium Saltine was a talented but inconsistent horse. A winner in fast time one day, he could just as easily finish up the track the next time.
That was during his former life - when he was a colt. Now a gelding, Premium Saltine is fast, game, and consistent. Thursday he aims to win his third consecutive win in the ninth race at Churchill Downs, a $58,500 four-other-than allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - La Reina, in a very game performance, won Tuesday's $110,700 Tempted Stakes on the Election Day card at Aqueduct before a crowd of 3,343.
La Reina repelled a challenge from the runner-up, Eye Dazzler, at the quarter pole and won by three lengths. It was another 5 1/2 lengths back to Sisti's Pride in third in the mile dirt race for 2-year-old fillies.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Crafty Shaw came out on the short end of a photo finish in the 2002 Clark Handicap. In Tuesday's $64,600 allowance prep for the Clark at Churchill Downs, Crafty Shaw won a tight photo.
Well rated by Craig Perret, Crafty Shaw pressed the pace of longshot Smoked Em through slow opening fractions of 24.42 seconds and 47.75. Leaving the backstretch he took command of the race with six furlongs in 1:11.83, and was quickly joined by Pass Rush.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Racetrack backstretches are not regular hot spots for gubernatorial candidates, certainly not on election day.
But early Tuesday morning Ben Chandler, Democratic candidate to become Kentucky's next governor, was out on the Churchill Downs backside, shaking hands with horsemen and spending time with trainer Nick Zito and Lexington horse owner Tracy Farmer.
Backstretch, LLC, a private company owned by the Choctaw tribe of Oklahoma, has purchased Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw from Race Horses Inc. The track was to be auctioned Tuesday, but Race Horses cleared a $3 million debt with the city of Sallisaw on Monday and then sold Blue Ribbon to the Choctaws for an undisclosed amount.
Heading the Blue Ribbon management team, according to a release put out by the Choctaws, will be Frank Deal, former general manager of Remington Park, and Blaine Story, a past president of the Oklahoma Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
MIAMI - Last year's inaugural Florida Millions was a success, and from the looks of the nominations this year, the second running could be even better.
Todd Pletcher, Allen Jerkens, Bill Mott, and Christophe Clement, all based in New York, are among the high-profile trainers who have nominated horses to one or more of the six stakes races on the Nov. 15 Florida Millions card. Their horses will face strong local opposition, including Florida Millions defending champions Best of the Rest and Tour of the Cat.
CHICAGO - He is 8, a bulky gray horse with a coat turning white from age and a Silky Sullivan stretch-running style. This fall his career trajectory has tilted upward once again, and Paddy's Spy could be a fan favorite, one of those revered old claimers, except that he has never been much of a winner. In 96 starts he has finished first 12 times and second 17, and in earlier years, his record made embarrassing stops at 5 for 40 and 6 for 58.