PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows will experiment with a new schedule at its 80-day 2003-04 meeting, swapping the traditional Sunday racing for Mondays and moving the first post time back from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Only Friday night racing's 7 p.m. first post will remain the same.
The changes reflect an increased emphasis on exporting the signal from Portland Meadows, which is entering its third season under the auspices of Magna Entertainment Corp.
Warleigh, who was claimed for $100,000 in August, will be a heavy favorite to win his fifth straight race Saturday in the $40,000 Alliance Handicap at Louisiana Downs.
The 1 1/16-mile race is one of three turf stakes in the region. Fly Slama Jama, who set a course record in his last start, heads the $35,000 No Le Hace at Retama Park, while the $35,000 E.L. Gaylord Memorial at Remington drew three top contenders from trainer Donnie Von Hemel.
PHOENIX - One race looks like a complete mismatch. The other is about as clear as mud. So Saturday when Turf Paradise presents two divisions of the $25,000 Arizona Thoroughbred Fall Sales Stakes - one for males, one for females - the races will have a distinctly different flavor.
The fillies division is dominated by Bugsy Marrone, who faces 10 others, while the colt-and-gelding division brings out 11 evenly matched juvenile males. Each race is at six furlongs and they go as races 7 and 8 on the nine-race card.
Vernon Downs, the upstate New York harness track that has been on the brink of extinction for nearly a decade, will open its doors to a new era in the state's horse racing industry next month.
Vernon will become the first racetrack in the state to take bets on video-lottery terminals - a type of slot machine administered by the state lottery - when it opens a plush, 34,500-square-foot facility that will house 1,081 of the machines. The casino, adjacent to the track's grandstand, is expected to open in early November.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As dusk set upon Belmont Park last year on New York Showcase Day, a ghost-like image flashed across the stretch. It was Gander, with his distinctive whitish-gray coat, on his way to winning his second Empire Classic.
Gander, who has been one of the most popular New York-breds since his arrival as a 2-year-old in August 1998, will shoot for another Empire Classic win on Saturday at Belmont Park. He won his first Empire Classic in 1999.
The achievements of New York-bred Funny Cide, this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, thrust the state's breeding and racing program into the national spotlight. Funny Cide, the first New York-bred to win the Kentucky Derby, became a household name during his Triple Crown run, which ended with a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The leaves have started to turn colors, and the wind has a cool bite in the morning. As the season changes, racing fans know the days of turf racing in the area are dwindling to a precious few.
The last major opportunity to run on the grass in New Jersey comes Friday night at The Meadowlands in the Grade 3, $150,000 Violet Handicap.
"The grass stakes are getting few and far between," said Buzz Tenney, the chief assistant to Shug McGaughey, who sends out Vespers in the Violet. "We'll probably get a few at Aqueduct in November before we're done."
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Borg Queen won a modest maiden race for claimers when Richard Englander and Jeff Mullins claimed her for $40,000 on March 9 at Santa Anita.
So far, the claim has worked out.
The Borg Queen won consecutive races for claimers at Del Mar and finished second in the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Marian Stakes at Fairplex Park on Sept. 22.
Friday, The Borg Queen tries for her fourth win of 2003 and is the likely favorite in a $49,000 optional claimer over a mile for California-breds fillies and mares.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Skeet was just plugging along through a fair-to-middling racing career when Bob Holthus ran the colt on grass. Since then, things haven't been the same for Skeet, who figures as one of the favorites Friday in the $75,000 Woodford County Stakes at Keeneland.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The home team lost its major player for Sunday's $1.5 million Canadian International, as Strut the Stage will not race again this season because of injury.
The $750,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes for fillies and mares also will be run Sunday. Both are Grade 1 turf races.