ARCADIA, Calif. - Composure, the top 3-year-old filly in California this year, has been retired because of a cracked sesamoid in her right foreleg, trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday.
The injury ends a career that showed considerable promise.
won two Grade 1 races at this meeting - the Las Virgenes Stakes and Santa Anita Oaks - and was considered a leading candidate for the Kentucky Oaks in May. The injury was diagnosed earlier this week, Baffert said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For nearly as long as he can remember, trainer Greg Foley has been getting up early in the morning to tend to racehorses.
"I was probably nine or 10 when I first started grooming horses for my dad," said Foley, whose father, Dravo, and sister, Vickie, also are active trainers on the Kentucky circuit. "I got my first license in 1978 or 1979."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Volponi, the upset winner of last October's Breeders' Cup Classic, took the first steps toward defending that title Tuesday with a three-furlong workout clocked in 37.64 seconds over Belmont Park's training track.
The work, the eighth fastest of 13 recorded at the distance and conducted over a fast track, was Volponi's first since his 43-1 Classic victory on Oct. 26 at Arlington Park. "He went well, steady,'' trainer Phil Johnson said. "He actually went a quarter a few days ago to get his attention.''
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - On paper, Thursday's $38,000 feature at Gulfstream Park looks like a wide-open race. But anybody who saw Powerful Appeal's last performance will have little trouble deciding who to wager on in this second-level allowance race, scheduled for nine furlongs on the turf.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Jack Wolf watched President Bush's speech to the nation along with many other Americans on Monday night. The talk of a possible war in the Middle East hit a little closer to home in the Wolf household, though. Wolf and his wife, Laurie, are planning to be in Dubai next week to watch their Harlan's Holiday compete in the $6 million Dubai World Cup.
A potentially massive problem that could have jeopardized the running of the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park apparently has been resolved after officials acted swiftly Tuesday to contain an equine virus diagnosed in three horses stabled at the Florence, Ky., track.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Forty Nine Deeds's second-place finish to Colorful Tour on opening weekend at Oaklawn Park is starting to look like a pretty nice credential. The two horses met Feb. 1, and since then, Colorful Tour has gone on two win two major stakes at the meet and is headed next to the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Buddy Gil got the money, but Atswhatimtalknbout is getting all the attention. The 3-year-olds finished a nose apart in the Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile San Felipe last Sunday, and the strong finish and super gallop out by runner-up Atswhatimtalknbout has made him the clear favorite for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. - European imports Tangle and Katdogawn will feel right at home in the first of three turf races Thursday at Santa Anita, but race 3 figures to be won by a California-bred dirt sprinter. Just Too Too, whose front-running style is favored by the outermost placement of the temporary rails (30 feet), could be long gone, even though he is trying two turns and grass for the first time.
ALBANY, Calif. - For the first time in more than a year, Golden Gate Fields racing secretary Greg Brent was forced to hold up entries and bring them back a second day.
His perseverance paid off after suspending entries on Sunday when no race had more than five entrants. The Thursday co-feature, a one-mile $40,000 starter allowance race on the turf, has nine entrants and looks to be a wide-open race.
