Cleaning House, the horse whose performance in a trial race at Delta Downs is under investigation, is scheduled to run back in the finals of the $30,000 Graduation Futurity on Saturday night at Delta.
Cleaning House, trained by Steve Asmussen, finished third in his Jan. 23 trial for the Graduation Futurity. The 2-5 favorite under jockey Donnie Meche, Cleaning House broke poorly in the five-furlong race and ultimately ran third, beaten 2 3/4 lengths.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - An overnight snowstorm forced Oaklawn Park to cancel live racing on Thursday, the fourth time the track has had to scrap a program this meet because of weather. The first three days of the season were pushed back a week because of a frozen track, so instead of the scheduled Jan. 24 start this year, the meet began Jan. 31.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Tom Proctor does not have enough horses in his stable to crack the leading trainer standings at Gulfstream Park. But Proctor, a second generation horseman, has enough quality in his barn this winter to have won four races from the first seven horses he has run during the opening month of the meet.
NEW ORLEANS - We already know how fast he is. Bonapaw has won sprint stakes at seven different tracks, and he ruled the Fair Grounds sprint colony last year before going on to a Grade 1-winning summer. How far Bonapaw can carry his speed is the question Sunday, when he is part of a good field in the $125,000 Whirlaway Handicap.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Roar Emotion, who ended her 2-year-old season with a victory in the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes last November, took the first step toward her 3-year-old debut on Thursday by working three furlongs in 36.05 seconds over Belmont Park's training track.
Roar Emotion, a daughter of Roar owned by Joe Allen and trained by Jose Martin, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $100,000 Cicada Stakes on March 22 over Aqueduct's main track. Her long-term goal is the Kentucky Oaks on May 2.
Winter racing in Maryland isn't considered prime territory for producing a 3-year-old destined to make an impact on the Triple Crown trail. But it does happen.
Two years ago, for example, Talk Is Money defeated Marciano and Bay Eagle to win the $50,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park. All three horses competed in the Triple Crown that spring.
Seven of the nine colts entered in Saturday's Miracle Wood are Triple Crown nominees and could use the 1 1/16-mile stakes as a stepping-stone to bigger and better things.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Saturday's 1 1/16-mile, $50,000-added Curribot Handicap drew only seven, any of whom could emerge the victor. With Premeditation going to Phoenix last week for the Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup, in which he finished off the board, the Curribot has come up wide open.
PHOENIX - Last week's Super Saturday program had three stakes races, and runners based in Southern California dominated the proceedings.
It could be more of the same this Saturday in the $50,000 Glendale Handicap, in which invader Secret Garden faces 10 fillies and mares. Secret Garden carries high weight of 121 pounds, conceding from three to 11 pounds to the opposition in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Eight of the best female horses in New England make Saturday's $35,000 Hannah Dustin Stakes at Suffolk Downs a wide-open race.
The group's collective form is remarkably strong. Three runners are coming off victories, and all but one of the rest of the field finished in-the-money last time.
Two veteran mares, Big Miss and Shiloh Lane, are from the barn of Don Caroli, and there's little between them in terms of ability.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Fonner Park will enter its 50th season of racing when it begins a 38-day meet Saturday. The track's showcase event, the $100,000 Bosselman-Gus Fonner Handi-cap, will be run on April 26.
Twelve-year-old Leaping Plum, one of the most popular sprinters ever to run at the five-eighth-mile track, is back and should see action in next week's Grasmick Handicap at four furlongs. Leaping Plum's streak of seven consecutive wins in the Grasmick, dating to 1995, was halted when he finished third last year.