Pat Day coming to Delta

Delta Downs has been a hot spot for some big names. Just two weeks after hosting a number of high-profile names, such as owner Toby Keith, trainer Bob Baffert, and jockey Garrett Gomez, on Delta Jackpot Night, the track will welcome retired Hall of Fame rider Pat Day on Saturday night.

Day will be at Delta to speak during a fund-raiser for the Race Track Chaplaincy of America. There will also be a live and silent auction of some of Day's racing memorabilia during the banquet. During his visit, Day is also scheduled to sign autographs and be part of the paddock show, providing commentary on some of the races run Saturday night at Delta.

o Jonesboro keeps making his mom proud. The only stakes winner to date from his dam, champion Mom's Command, he picked up his second stakes score earlier this month at Delta, when he drew out to a 7 1/4-length win in the $100,000 Sam's Town. The morning after the race he shipped back to his winter base at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., which will start its meet in January.

"He ran good," Randy Morse, who trains Jonesboro, said after the Sam's Town. "He'll get a pretty good little break. We'll probably wait for Hot Springs."

Morse said Jonesboro could turn up next in the handicap series at Oaklawn, which begins with the $100,000 Essex Handicap on Feb. 10.

- Mary Rampellini