Cole Norman might have a third horse for the Breeders' Cup next month after Mass Media, a 2-year-old colt he trains for Gary and Mary West, won an entry-level allowance by 22 lengths Sunday at Louisiana Downs.
Mass Media earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100, which is tied for the second highest Beyer among 2-year-olds in 2003. The highest is a 103 earned by Cuvee.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Scott Lake wasn't looking for the hardest race he could find to get Shake You Down back on track for next month's Breeders' Cup Sprint. He wasn't looking for a walkover, either.
It would appear Lake found exactly what he was looking for Thursday at Belmont Park as Shake You Down was entered against several stakes-caliber animals in a $56,000 classified allowance race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Reade Baker and Scott Fairlie, two of Woodbine's hottest trainers, are well represented in Thursday's Woodbine feature, a $61,600 preliminary allowance race for 3-year-olds and up.
Baker will send out Alpha King in the six-furlong race. Owned by Stronach Stable, Alpha King ran sixth in his debut in a six-furlong maiden special weight race July 26, running greenly while wide over an inside biased track. He displayed a remarkable form reversal with the addition of blinkers Aug. 24, when he graduated on the front end by seven lengths.
CHICAGO - The bettors have been chasing Stormybdancing ever since she popped at odds of 20-1 in her turf debut back in April, and they will be hot on her tail in the seventh race on Thursday at Arlington.
Stormybdancing heads a large field in the nominal feature on a nine-race card here. The race, at about 1 1/16 miles on grass, is restricted to 3-year-old fillies. It is getting late in the year for 3-year-old restricted races, and the opportunity to run in such a race has brought out 12 horses.
AUBURN, Wash. - The initial dozen inductees into the Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame - announced last Friday - have sparked debate and unleashed a flood of memories.
The same thing is likely to happen in succeeding years, when no more than three new candidates will be inducted in a single year, and that alone makes the project worthwhile. It's good to remember the past, and to honor those who made it memorable.
AUBURN, Wash. - If Not Why Not, a prolific winner who is on an uncharacteristic four-race losing streak, stretches out to a mile in Thursday's Emerald Downs feature, which drew eight older $10,000 claimers.
If Not Why Not, a winner of 11 of his 32 starts, won back-to-back sprints over $8,000 and $12,500 company in June, but has since been denied in two starts for $16,000 and two for $12,500, all sprints. Trainer and part-owner George Colello is making three significant changes on Thursday in an attempt to get the 7-year-old If Not Why Not back to the winner's circle.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Whoopi Cat and Whywhywhy, two of the better horses in trainer Patrick Biancone's barn, suffered injuries that will keep them out of this weekend's stakes races at Belmont Park.
Whoopi Cat, winner of the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes in her last start, suffered a bruised right front foot and will miss Sunday's Grade 1, $200,000 Matron for 2-year-old fillies. Biancone said he did not believe the injury would force Whoopi Cat to miss the rest of the year.
MIAMI - The mood was a bit more somber than usual during training hours here on Tuesday after word had spread that trainer Harold Rose had died the previous afternoon.
At 92, Rose was the elder statesman of the Calder backstretch and a fixture here since the track opened in 1971. He was also one of the most successful owner-breeders in the area, having campaigned such talented homebreds as My G.P., Rexson's Hope, Mia's Hope, and Hal's Hope.
But as his longtime friend and colleague Bill Kaplan explained, Rose was more than just a good horseman.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockeys Patrick Valenzuela and Omar Berrio both face possible disciplinary action from Del Mar's stewards following a fight in the jockeys' room after Monday's third race, in which a horse Valenzuela rode to victory was disqualified in a controversial decision.
