At first glance, it would appear as if the freshly turned 4-year-old Chiropractor will be facing the toughest test of his life on Saturday when he is thrown in against such grizzled veterans as Obviously, Bal a Bali, and Big John B in the $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes on the Santa Anita grass. Not so.
Emotional Kitten hasn't won in more than a year, but that eight-race losing streak could come to a screeching halt after the 6-year-old mare goes postward as the likely favorite Saturday night in the $50,000 Wintergreen Stakes at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.
The New York Racing Association will broadcast live racing from Belmont Park and Saratoga on a daily basis on the Madison Square Garden Networks in 2016.
As far as trainer Stanley Gold is concerned, in a perfect world Saturday's Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park would be a little longer in distance and decided around two turns. But that doesn't temper his enthusiasm for his steadily improving Fellowship, who figures to be one of the choices in a modest field of 3-year-olds in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man.
With 41 starts and four seasons of competition under his belt, Page McKenney will begin his 6-year-old season Saturday at Laurel Park as the favorite in the Native Dancer Stakes, one of three $75,000 stakes on the card.
Full Salute's form isn't all that glamorous, but with a couple of ungraded stakes triumphs from his last three races, he is a gritty performer with the running style and Beyer Speed Figures to make him a legitimate contender for a minor upset in Saturday's Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Back-to-back Grade 3 sprints will kick off a lucrative stakes program for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, when the Hutcheson and Old Hat stakes are the first of five stakes on an 11-race card at the south Florida track.
Eclipse Award ballots are due Saturday at 3 p.m., which gives you less than 48 hours to tell me why the following 1-2-3 selections do not meet with your approval.
DRF Harness would like to congratulate the leading drivers and trainers of 2015.
Bob Pandolfo's Sharp Horses and Track Trends report featuring horses from Meadowlands, Northfield and others.
