STICKNEY, Ill. - The trainer Pat Cuccurullo has ridden racing's roller coaster before. Most of this year he was in a trough. Now, the thrill is back.
Cuccurullo came into the Hawthorne meet with eight wins from 126 starters this year, but after Tuxson scored in the first race Friday, Cuccurullo had won five times with just 13 starters, making him a top-tier trainer so far at this meet.
Vals Fortune, a Quarter Horse who has won his last eight starts, can earn a $500,000 bonus Sunday by winning the Grade 1, $232,242 Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders' Association Futurity at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.
Vals Fortune won the first leg of the bonus series, the Grade 2 Mardi Gras Futurity at Fair Grounds on March 20. Four months later he captured the second leg, the Grade 1 LQHBA Sales Futurity, at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 17.
In his most recent start, he won a trial for the final leg by a neck in his first start at 400 yards.
Blue Ribbon Downs, a small track in Sallisaw, Okla., is scheduled to be auctioned at the Sallisaw courthouse on Nov. 4, but that could change if the State Supreme Court grants a request by the track to stop the sale. Blue Ribbon's case was heard this week, and a decision is pending.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Mr. Mink faces the stiffest challenge of his career when he meets Red's Honor and nine other older Indiana-breds in the $35,000-added Brickyard Stakes at six furlongs on Sunday.
Mr. Mink, a 3-year-old trained by Michael Nance, won both his local starts this year. His last win came in the Fort Wayne Stakes when he went gate to wire to score by five lengths in 1:10.93, one of the fastest clockings of the season.
Mr. Mink will be coupled with Donnies Pick. Tommy Pompell was named on both.
Maysville Slew cuts back in distance Sunday for the $35,000 Brother Brown at Remington Park. A five-furlong turf race, the Brother Brown could serve as his springboard to the Grade 3, $150,000 River City at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 16.
There are 10 others in the Brother Brown, including top contenders Jeb's Honor, April's Lucky Boy, Abbi's Choice, and Caro's Royalty.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - No matter what credentials a 2-year-old brings into a stakes race, there are always questions to be answered.
There are three stakes winners among the six 2-year-olds entered in Sunday's $60,000 Bay Meadows Juvenile Stakes, but their connections are still learning about them.
For Hajji's Honor, who won the six-furlong San Mateo Stakes in his last start, the question is Sunday's one-mile distance. Although it's likely he will thrive on the two turns, he has yet to negotiate the distance.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Last weekend, Mark Cloutier, assistant trainer to his wife, Toni, watched as Shelby Madison got pinned down on the rail in the early stages of the Grade 3 Ballerina Breeders' Cup. When the classy mare finally got loose, she made a race out of it, but in the end her early troubles were too much to overcome, and she finished third to Dancewithavixen.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - For a horse that is trying to repeat in the Canadian International, Ballingarry hasn't been getting much respect.
And perhaps that's understandable, since Ballingarry has won just 1 of 6 races since being sold right after his victory here in 2002.
Ballingarry went from here to the Breeders' Cup Turf at Arlington, where he finished seventh of eight in his first start for trainer Laura de Seroux and a California-based consortium of owners.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - It's wedding bells for Francine Villeneuve after the meet ends here in November.
But it will be business as usual for Villeneuve, the winningest woman jockey ever in Canada, when racing resumes at the Fort in April. She would like to reach the 1,000-win plateau before she puts her tack away for good.
Going into Saturday's program, Villeneuve, a 39-year-old native of Ottawa, had 751 lifetime wins and purse earnings of $11,598,459. Next on the list of winningest women jockeys is Regina Sealock, who has 622 winners. Sealock also is based at Fort Erie.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Brian Boru will try to add his name to an elite list of winning favorites in the Canadian International - which 30 years ago was won by the great Secretariat and 20 years ago by Horse of the Year All Along - when he tops a field of 11 in Sunday's 66th running of the 1 1/2-mile event.
The $1.5 million International heads an excellent 11-race card at Woodbine, which also includes three other stakes: the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor, the Grade 3 Highlander, and the $108,000 Chief Bearhart, named after the 1997 International winner.