Jacinto suspended for three days

BOSSIER CITY, La. - John Jacinto, the leading rider at Louisiana Downs, will be taking this short three-day race week off to serve a suspension levied by the Lone Star Park stewards for an incident there on June 25 in the Miller Lite Stakes.

Jacinto was aboard Our Love for trainer Jeff Trosclair in five-furlong sprint on the turf when, in the opinion of the stewards, Our Love interfered with Hortense in the stretch. Our Love was subsequently disqualified from second and placed fifth.

Jacinto, second behind Lonnie Meche in the standings last season with 118 wins, had won 58 races at the current meet through last Monday

Meanwhile, while Jacinto sits this week, Meche returns to action following a six-week suspension for testing positive for amphetamines earlier this year, also in Texas. Meche won 158 races here last season and had ridden 53 winners this year, primarily at Fair Grounds, before he was suspended.

Belle City Boy tops turf feature

Belle City Boy, a solid third on the main track in his last start, returns to the turf in Sunday's allowance feature. The 1 1/16-mile first-level allowance drew a field of 13 Louisiana-breds.

Making his first start for new trainer Andy Leggio, Belle City Boy rallied here on May 30 in a similar spot, but that race was rained off the turf and run instead over a drying out main track. Prior to that effort, Belle City Boy had been idle since a near-miss on the Fair Grounds turf course on March 10. Luis Quinonez, recently named the track's jockey of the month for June, will handle the riding duties.

Betnow, the 2-1 morning line favorite trained by Steve Asmussen, does not have the benefit of a recent race but is proven on turf. He easily defeated statebred maiden special weight company on the Fair Grounds turf in early March and followed up that effort with a stakes placing, also at Fair Grounds, in March. Don Simington has the mount.