ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Rain in Toronto, and the prospect of more on the way, forced trainer Roger Attfield to change Perfect Soul's training schedule, just days before he runs Saturday in the Arlington Million. Scheduled for a Wednesday breeze, Perfect Soul had what Attfield termed "a little dirt work" on Tuesday morning.
Set in the context of months of preparation, the change is trifling. All season, Perfect Soul has stayed the course Attfield charted months ago.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has to skip Saturday's $300,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup with Abreeze, but he hopes he has a capable substitute in State Shinto for the Grade 2 race.
Abreeze, who finished second behind Evening Attire in last year's Saratoga BC, missed some training time during the summer because of a fever. McLaughlin said Abreeze is breezing well, but he wants to find an easier spot for the 8-year-old's first start since June 1, when he won an allowance race at Belmont Park.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Having already taken last weekend's Sorrento Stakes with the filly Tizdubai, trainer Eoin Harty is looking for a sweep of Del Mar's preps for the meet's two major stakes races for 2-year-olds when he sends out Ruler's Court in Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000 Best Pal Stakes.
Ruler's Court was a sharp winner of his debut at Hollywood Park, but then was beaten as the odds-on favorite in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship. He tuned up for the Best Pal by working five furlongs in 1:01.60 on Tuesday morning with exercise rider Jane Steiner.
DEL MAR, Calif. - It took Sophisticatedbluff eight starts to finally win against maidens, but if her improving pattern continues, she should not take nearly as long to clear her first-level allowance condition. In fact, she might do it on Thursday, when she seeks her second straight victory in the featured seventh race at Del Mar, a one-mile race for older fillies and mares that attracted six runners.
The allowance race came up fairly soft for the level, but it is the best race on a rather lackluster card.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - For all of his vast experience in horse racing, it was not until last weekend, when Whitmore's Conn upset the Sword Dancer on Saturday at Saratoga, that Randy Schulhofer could officially be called a Grade 1-winning trainer.
Seven days after crashing that barrier, Schulhofer is seeking more of the same. He will be at Arlington Park Saturday to run Owsley in the $700,000 Beverly D., the Grade 1 race that once again figures as a key race in the filly-mare turf division.
"Hopefully we're getting on a roll," said Schulhofer.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - If Saturday is Arlington Million Day, Thursday is Frank Calabrese-Wayne Catalano Day.
Catalano entered Calabrese-owned horses in six of the afternoon's nine races, including two in the featured eighth, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares on turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It's anyone's guess if there will be turf racing at Saratoga on Thursday. Twenty-one grass races during the first 18 days of the 36-day meet were transferred to the main track because of poor weather.
Clear skies are forecast for Thursday, but there was a threat of rain for Wednesday. Three grass races are carded for Thursday, including a second-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up that goes as the eighth on the card. The mile race on the inner turf drew 10 horses, plus two also-eligibles and three main-track-only entries.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Jersey Shore beachgoers and racing fans have their fingers crossed for this weekend, fervently wishing for relief from the relentless siege of rainy weather.
Near-record rain this summer has left the turf course at Monmouth Park severely underutilized. Most are hoping the fillies and mares will be back on the grass Sunday for the weekend's main event, the Grade 3, $100,000 Matchmaker Handicap.
The 1 1/8-mile race could be one of the most competitive of the meeting.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Business declined for the first half of the Saratoga meeting, according to figures released by the New York Racing Association at the conclusion of Monday's card.
For the first 18 days of the 36-day meet, ontrack handle dipped 7 percent, to $52,780,252 from last year's $56,799,133. Total handle declined by 8.4 percent to $257,449,880, compared with $281,079,370 in 2002.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Mistical Jaz makes her first start since making headlines for winning a $25,000 maiden claimer at Del Mar on Aug. 1, when she runs in a $40,000 starter allowance race at the Bay Meadows Fair Thursday.
Mistical Jaz's late rally and neck victory in the final race at Del Mar that day earned five Santa Rosa-area men a state-record $1.5 million pick six.
"She got a lot of PR out of that," trainer Gloria Buckridge said. "When we heard someone from Santa Rosa won the pick six that day, it was pretty exciting."
