Trainer Michael Dilger will be spend a good part of the next two weeks deciding whether to keep his soon-to-be 3-year-old stakes winner Jan's Reserve sprinting or give him a shot to stretch out around two turns.
Castleton Lyons is accepting entries for the tenth annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, a competition recognizing excellence in writing in the Thoroughbred industry
Evangeline Downs will put on a rich double for Quarter Horses on Saturday night, led by the $257,650 EVD Futurity. The 400-yard race will share a card with the $145,100 EVD Derby. The EVD Futurity is led by a trio of 2-year-olds who each won their trial by two or more lengths: Dash Dont Cheat, The Valiant Prince, and Queen Washita.
Galveston Harbor’s younger half-brother, Mobile Bay, has racked up the stakes wins this year, among his victories the Grade 2 Super Derby and the Zia Park Derby. But the spotlight could shift in Galveston Harbor’s direction Saturday night as he appears to be a chief player in the $65,000 B-Connected at Delta Downs.
Jeremey Day's analysis of the Saturday 12/19 card at Balmoral Park.
Wine Police will attempt to nail down his first Sunland Park stakes win on Saturday in the $65,000 KLAQ Handicap. He missed by a neck in last year’s running, and in his only other start at the New Mexico track, he was second by a neck in the Bill Thomas Memorial.
When Watershed finished fourth to Runhappy in the King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga in August, Watershed was a 7-2 contender and Runhappy an 11-1 outsider. Runhappy romped to a four-length win, the first of three stakes victories that includes the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31. They are scheduled to meet again in the $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, the opening day of the track's winter-spring meeting.
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Saturday 12/19 card at Woodbine Harness.
Eagle, whose trip down the 2015 Triple Crown trail got derailed before it really began, and Ride On Curlin, the second-place finisher in the 2014 Preakness, headline the $60,000 Tenacious, one of six stakes on a 12-race card Saturday at Fair Grounds.
With purses of $75,000 apiece for Saturday's Tropical Park Derby and Oaks at Gulfstream Park, the pots are modest, but the quality and depth of the fields are not. Both races drew horses of graded stakes quality, and barring scratches, the races will be filled to capacity with 12 runners in each.
