SAN MATEO, Calif. - Because of spiraling workers' compensation costs in California, Washington-based trainer Len Kasmerski faced a tougher decision than usual when deciding whether to ship 16 horses to Bay Meadows from his home base of Emerald Downs.
A lot of people at Emerald Downs, said Kasmerski, "are hesitant to go because of the costs."
But Kasmerski was committed to coming because his horses seem to fit well in the northern California program.
ELMONT, N.Y. - After running Golden Corona in four consecutive graded stakes, trainer Joe Orseno hopes he has found an easier spot for her Thursday in a nine-furlong classified allowance race over Belmont Park's inner turf course.
In the spring and early summer, Golden Corona was quite competitive in graded stakes company, finishing second behind Voodoo Dancer in the Beaugay; third, beaten a head, by Tweedside in the Sheepshead Bay; and second, beaten a neck, to Secret River in the All Along Breeders' Cup at Colonial Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Nadia, one of the leading candidates for Sunday's Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, had her final major tune-up for that $750,000 race here Tuesday, breezing six furlongs in 1:15.40 on a turf course labeled good.
The E.P. Taylor, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares, will share the Sunday spotlight with the Grade 1 Canadian International, a $1.5 million race over 1 1/2 miles on the turf.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Paul Nicolo sees so many films each week that he should have an Academy Awards vote.
Nicolo, a 46-year-old former rider, is the clerk of scales and film analyst at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows, and when he gives a "thumbs down," it really means something.
In his job as film analyst, he serves as a liaison between jockeys and stewards, often reviewing rides with jockeys before they appear before the stewards.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - It's not every day that a Louisiana Downs rider is in a position to turn down a mount on one of the favorites for the $500,000 Super Derby in order to ride in a Grade 1 race in New York the same day. And things are definitely going that rider's way when he then wins the Vosburgh as impressively as Gerard Melancon did upon Bonapaw on Saturday.
Life got even sweeter for the 35-year-old Melancon on Monday when the connections of Bonapaw said they intend to supplement the gelding to the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at Arlington Park on Oct. 26.
CHICAGO - The effect of having the World Thoroughbred Championships is rippling backward into the Arlington meet, just as Arlington officials had hoped. For surely it's the fact that Arlington has the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies that has induced the connections of so many promising young horses to consider Arlington's pair of 2-year-old graded stakes Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Upon learning that it would cost only $90,000 and not $200,000 to supplement Bonapaw to next month's Breeders' Cup Sprint, part-owner Dennis Richard said Monday that Vosburgh winner Bonapaw would run in the $1 million race.
"We're kicking it around with our bookkeeper, but it looks like all systems are go," Dennis Richard, who owns Bonapaw along with his twin brother, James, said Monday from New Orleans.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Essence of Dubai, dominant winner of the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs on Saturday, will not race again this year, and is scheduled to return to Dubai as early as next month, according to Tom Albertrani, the New York-based assistant trainer for Godolphin Racing.
"We have no plans for the rest of the year," said Albertrani. "He's going to go into quarantine and return to Dubai and winter there. We'll see how he matures, and bring him back to the States next year."
ELMONT, N.Y. - A turn back in distance, a switch to Belmont Park, and experience in Group 1 competition rate Born Something a slight advantage in Wednesday's entry-level allowance race at a mile over Belmont Park's Widener turf course.
Born Something, a 4-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Caerleon, has not won since taking a maiden race at Chantilly two years ago. Following that effort, she ran exclusively in Group stakes races in France, competing against the likes of champion Banks Hill, and Group 1 stakes winners Amonita and Choc Ice, winner of the 2001 E.P. Taylor.