The $40,000 Minstrel Stakes for 2-year-olds at Louisiana Downs has been a launching pad for some quality colts through the years, including Risen Star, Bet Me Best, and Crowned King. Saturday, two fast debut winners, South Africa and Joe Six Pack, will try to win the six-furlong race, but to do so they both must beat Next Bandit.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The message on the side of the Red Cross van hit home for Debbie Sones.
"I was sitting in traffic the other day and I spotted the truck with 'Disaster Relief' written on it," the trainer said. "That's what I need."
It has been a tough meet for Sones. She has won only one race from 12 starters at Monmouth Park as the barn has suffered a run of leg injuries.
PHOENIX - So far Unyielding has been true to his name - especially when racing on the Turf Paradise dirt.
Unyielding has been a dynamo here, winning all four of his local main-track starts, and he is the horse to beat in Saturday's $35,000 Saguaro Stakes. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds lured a field of eight, but no matter how you look at it, this race seems to go through Unyielding.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - By winning three races last week, Chris Tuttle edged closer to Layne Giliforte, who is in second-place in the trainers standing here. Giliforte goes into the weekend with 37 wins, three more than Tuttle.
Tuttle, who was slow off the mark this year, appeared to have a good chance to narrow the gap significantly on Tuesday. A track that came up muddy, however, weakened his hand.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Canadian International and the E.P. Taylor Stakes, both Grade 1 turf races and perennial highlights of the local fall season, have returned to their mid-October dates this year after being situated in late September as preps for the Breeders' Cup the past two seasons.
In fact, this year's Oct. 19 date for the $1.5 million Canadian International and the $750,000 E.P. Taylor puts the races in direct competition with the Oct. 25 Breeders' Cup card.
East Boston, Mass. - Jill's Layup, one of the most promising Massachusetts-bred fillies to come around in years, returns from a five-month layoff in the $35,000 Massachusetts Oaks for statebred 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles.
Trained by Edward Stone, Jill's Layup won her debut last summer at Rockingham, and since then she has won five races, including four stakes.
Jill's Layup won her last two races, both open to male horses. In March she won the African Prince Stakes and a month later took the Helena Stakes.
Delaware Park is hopeful Mother Nature will be more cooperative this weekend than she was a week ago when heavy rain forced the track to postpone the $200,000 Caesar Rodney Handicap.
The 1 1/8-mile turf race was rescheduled for Saturday because the grass course was too soggy and management feared there would be numerous scratches if the Rodney was run either on soft turf or moved to the main track. The track clearly prefers to have the strongest field possible because it is pushing to get graded status for the Rodney.
Handicapping the Oklahoma Classics Day Classic at Remington Park has not been difficult in recent times, with standouts such as three-time winner Mr Ross in the field. But that won't be the case this year.
Several of the eight horses in Saturday night's 1 1/16-mile Classic seem capable, including defending champ Zee Oh Six, newcomer Cheyenne Breeze, Coldiron Slew, and Expensive Risk.
The $75,000 Classic is the richest of seven statebred stakes on the card. The remaining races are worth $35,000 each, for total purses of $285,000.
NEW YORK - The board of directors of the New York Racing Association was expected on Wednesday to consider a proposal to remove significant responsibilities from Terry Meyocks, the association's president and chief operating officer, according to members of the NYRA board.
Kentucky Downs ended its six-day meeting Tuesday, and its average business figures were up substantially over the corresponding seven-day meet last year.
Primarily because of a surge in offtrack handle from New York, where more lenient simulcast regulations permitted considerably more exposure to the Kentucky Downs signal this year, average daily handle from all sources was $1,637,054, up 19 percent from last year.