The Thanksgiving Handicap was drawn Thursday, and it's headed by Clearly Now, a recent arrival on the circuit after being privately purchased by Brittlyn Stable and turned over to trainer Ron Faucheux.
The New Orleans area got between 1 1/2 and two inches of rain Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, but to the great surprise of many, Fair Grounds was able to conduct turf racing opening day Thursday. The course started out yielding but was upgraded to good and didn't seem especially wet, laboring, or difficult to handle.
Speechify, who miraculously escaped serious injury when he fell during the Grade 3 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 3, returns in Sunday’s $50,000 feature at Gulfstream Park West, to be decided under open allowance conditions at five furlongs on turf.
Nominations have been released for the nine Claiming Crown races which will highlight opening day of the 2015-2016 Gulfstream Park championship meet on Dec. 5.
DRF handicapper Matt Bernier provides his best plays on Saturday's program at Del Mar.
Calamity Kate was making her way to New Mexico on Friday to lead the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks. The 1 1/16-mile race is the centerpiece of the track's third annual Land of Enchantment program on Wednesday.
Dual classic winner and champion Smarty Jones will return to Kentucky to stand at historic Calumet Farm in Lexington for the 2016 breeding season.
Texas Red, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita in 2014, is undergoing preliminary training at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, trainer Keith Desormeaux said. Texas Red is expected to join Desormeaux's stable at Santa Anita next month to prepare for a 2016 campaign.
Stellar Wind, a game second to Stopchargingmaria in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 30, is nearing a return to training after a brief rest, owner Kosta Hronis said on Friday.
Frosty Margarita has come up just short of an initial stakes score in each of her last two starts, finishing second both times. On Sunday at Aqueduct, she'll be favored to break through in the $100,000 Key Cents, a six-furlong stakes for New York-bred 2-year-old fillies.
