NEW ORLEANS - Badge of Silver, Indy Dancer, Saintly Look, and Seattle Hoofer all have hit the national radar as 3-year-olds with a chance to become Kentucky Derby contenders. Now, let's see if they can run.
The quartet of promising colts square off Sunday in the $150,000 , a bridge to the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and what lies beyond.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Stareaux will get the distance she needs when she takes on nine other older fillies and mares in Sunday's $10,000 Sweetheart Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Portland Meadows.
Stareaux, a 5-year-old daughter of Northern Park, won a pair of mile races here last season and finished a creditable fourth in the nine-furlong Belle Roberts Handicap last September at Emerald Downs. But she has not yet had an opportunity to go around two turns at this meeting.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - At the half-mile pole of the Dec. 28 W.L. McKnight Handicap, trainer Rick Violette thought the frustrations his Man From Wicklow had experienced in graded stakes company all year long were going to continue.
After steadying early, Man From Wicklow was farther off the pace than Violette had anticipated. A slow pace further complicated matters and had Violette thinking back to past near-hits in such Grade 1 events at the Sword Dancer Invitational and Man o' War Handicap.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Harmony Lodge is finally realizing the potential trainer Todd Pletcher saw in her before she ever ran.
Thirty-three days after coming from off the pace to win the Grade 3 First Lady Handicap, Harmony Lodge posted a front-running victory in Friday's Grade 3, $100,000 Shirley Jones Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Carl Nafzger has a pleasant problem on his hands: deciding which of his talented 3-year-old fillies, My Boston Gal or Westerly Breeze, to run in next Sunday's Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes.
The Davona Dale is one of two stakes for 3-year-old fillies on that program, along with the $50,000 Charon Stakes, an overnight race at seven furlongs. The 1 1/16-mile Davona Dale is a prep for the $250,000 Bonnie Miss Stakes on March 14.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr., who was released from prison on Thursday, said that he hopes to begin riding races at Aqueduct within the next two weeks.
On Friday, Arroyo met with the Aqueduct stewards. The stewards said Arroyo must follow proper procedures, including filling out paperwork, standard for someone that has been convicted of a crime, before being cleared to return to competition.
It is not anticipated that the New York State Racing and Wagering Board will take any action against the rider in regard to his license.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Victor Cuadra said he felt a weight lifted when the 9-year-old Say Florida Sandy finished second Jan. 25 in the Paumonok Handicap and surpassed $2 million in earnings.
With that milestone behind him, Say Florida Sandy has another hurdle in front of him as he attempts to win his first stakes since September 2001 in Sunday's $75,000-added Hollie Hughes Handicap at Aqueduct.
Say Florida Sandy, the 2001 Hollie Hughes winner, is the likely favorite over six other older males entered in the six-furlong race for New York-breds.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Bob Holthus, who has won two of the last three runnings of the $75,000 Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds, plans to start two promising colts in the one-mile race when it is run at Oaklawn Park on March 1.
The race is the first in a three-stakes series that culminates with the Grade 2, $500,000 Arkansas Derby on April 12.
Holthus plans to start Alke, who most recently finished second to Champali in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, and Premier Rocket, who won an entry-level allowance race on Wednesday.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows got a new lease on life late last week when Magna Entertainment Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary MEC Oregon Racing Inc., reached an agreement to purchase the long-term operating rights for the track.
MEC Oregon Racing Inc. is in the second year of operating Portland Meadows under a sublease arrangement that was to have run out after three or four years, and it now has the right to operate the track indefinitely.
