SAN MATEO, Calif. - Round One for Saturday's $100,000 California Sprint Championship at Bay Meadows went to El Dorado Shooter.
He drew post 5 in the six-furlong sprint for California-breds that includes four speedsters and one closer.
"I'd like to get on the outside," said Cliff Delima, the trainer of El Dorado Shooter, before the race was drawn Thursday.
"It all comes down to post position," said Jeff Bonde, Menacing Dennis' trainer, prior to the draw.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The realistic Breeders' Cup hopes of Congaree and D'wildcat this year are limited to the $1 million Mile.
Congaree has not been effective beyond 1 1/16 miles, eliminating him from consideration for the Breeders' Cup Classic over 1 1/4 miles. D'wildcat was a disappointment as a sprinter in the spring and summer, leading to a midyear transfer to turf.
Both start in Saturday's $250,000 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile on turf at Santa Anita, trying to justify trips to the Breeders' Cup Mile at Arlington Park on Oct. 26.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Off a lone maiden win at Del Mar the first day of the meet, Bull Market was made the tepid favorite seven weeks later in the closing-day Del Mar Futurity. But he could not bookend the meet with victories, and a poor start and his own overeagerness conspired to send him to defeat.
Now, at a new meet, a new distance, and with an equipment change, Bull Market will attempt to get his arrow pointing up again when he starts in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When he is at the top of his game, there are fewer sights more striking than Swept Overboard bearing down on his rivals. With his near-white coat, powerful stride, and late-running style, Swept Overboard can be breathtaking.
He was just that in last year's Ancient Title Breeders' Cup Handicap, as he was in this year's Metropolitan Handicap. They are the highlights of an 18-race career that has two more stops, beginning with a defense of the Grade 1, $200,000-added Ancient Title on Saturday at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There's something to be said for keeping it simple.
What happens when Histoire Sainte doesn't get enough time between starts? "She doesn't run as fast," said trainer Steve Asmussen.
With such a succinct conclusion, Asmussen wasn't going to spend the year beating his head against a wall. He has limited Histoire Sainte's action - waiting out much of the hot summer weather she doesn't like - and with a record of 3-2-0-1 this season, Histoire Sainte has won twice as many times and earned more money than she did in a seven-start campaign last year.
Bettors who made Alternate the heavy favorite in her last five races have been trashing more tickets than they have been cashing lately.
Although Alternate, a 3-year-old filly trained by Graham Motion, has been first or second in six starts since winning her maiden last March, she hasn't won since early May. The addition of blinkers could be the cure for Alternate's seconditis in Saturday's $250,000 Cotillion Handicap at Philadelphia Park.
Pace makes the race, and if there is enough of it in the six-furlong, $50,000 Skip Trial at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., Summer Swing would be the horse you'd want turning for home.
Summer Swing owns the race's best last-race Beyer Speed Figure (100), and ran an even better 103 Beyer two starts before that, winning the $65,000 Teddy Drone at Monmouth on Aug. 4. A repeat of either effort would do the job here.
Trouble is, there isn't a ton of early speed in the seven-horse Skip Trial.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Wiseman's Ferry has earned more than $750,000 this year while competing in a string of derbies across the Midwest. On Saturday night he will be tested to his fullest when he heads a field of 12 in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby at 1 1/16 miles.
Interest in the $400,000-added derby, Indiana's richest Thoroughbred race, ran high this year as 14 3-year-olds were entered for the 12 starting spots. Halo's Tiger and Taste of Paradise were excluded from Wednesday's draw based on their 2002 earnings.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - For all she has accomplished, Xtra Heat never has won a race against male rivals. Of course, she narrowly missed beating all comers last year when she ran second to Squirtle Squirt in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, but even with her gaudy career record of 23 for 30, none of those wins came against boys.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Racing fans most often pin their greatest hopes on 2-year-olds.
Perhaps it is because the horses are so flashy and full of raw potential and still have not had ample opportunity to have their weaknesses exposed. Whatever the case, it is races like the Lane's End Breeders' Futurity, the Grade 2 frace that will be run for the 89th time Saturday, that so frequently stir the dreams of racing fans who are on perpetual lookout for the next star.