Smokey Glacken scaring away her rivals

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - There are 24 horses nominated to Saturday's $100,000 Hurricane Bertie Stakes, but the one the other 23 are most worried about is trainer James Jerkens's Smokey Glacken, who dominated the Grade 3 First Lady Handicap here on Jan. 21.

The presence of Smokey Glacken obviously would enhance the quality of the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie but likely also would keep the size of the field to a minimum. Among those casting a wary eye toward the race is trainer Marty Wolfson, who has nominated both Kuanyan and Menifeeque, but might run neither if Smokey Glacken starts. Kuanyan finished a well-beaten second behind Smokey Glacken in the First Lady.

"I'm really not that anxious to run against her again as good as she is right now," said Wolfson. "And For All We Know is going to be in there, too."

For All We Know won the Grade 2 Raven Run last fall at Keeneland in her last start.

One option Wolfson is contemplating for his fillies is the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park, which was scheduled for the same day as the Hurricane Bertie but has been postponed until March 4 because of the herpesvirus quarantine in Maryland, which was lifted Wednesday.

Like Wolfson, trainer Mike Gorham also wants no part of Smokey Glacken. In fact, he didn't even nominate his speedy, multiple-stakes-winning filly Trickle of Gold to the 6 1/2-furlong Hurricane Bertie and will instead wait for the seven-furlong Shirley Jones Breeders' Cup here on March 18.

"You just can't run against these kind of fillies in all three of the sprint stakes here or you won't have any horse left for the rest of the year," said Gorham, when asked why he was passing the Hurricane Bertie.

Sorcerer's Stone illustrates Byrne's point

Sorcerer's Stone became the latest 3-year-old prospect to fall by the wayside because of injury. A son of Gulch, he won his first three starts, including the Arlington-Washington Futurity by nearly nine lengths, before suffering his only setback in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He will undergo surgery in Lexington on Tuesday to have a small chip removed from the top of his left front sesamoid.

"He breezed last Friday and cooled out nice," said his trainer, Patrick Byrne. "The injury didn't show until Sunday. He'll be done for the next four to six months, which means we'll lose a chance at all that 3-year-old money this year. Naturally it's disappointing, and it shows you why you need a hundred of them. It's tough to make it with just one good 3-year-old because it's so easy for things like this to happen."

Orseno excuses On Thin Ice's Donn effort

Trainer Joe Orseno said he may still consider the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap for On Thin Ice despite the horse's last-place finish uner Shaun Bridgmohan in last weekend's Grade 1 Donn Handicap. In his previous start, On Thin Ice set a course record going 1 1/8 miles en route to an easy win in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope Handicap.

"The Donn was about the strangest Grade 1 race I've ever seen, with four horses going for the lead like that," said Orseno. "I guess after watching some of the earlier races on the card the riders all felt they had to be in front. Unfortunately my horse took the worst of it down on the inside. Shaun did a good job getting him out of there, but he had little chance trying to make a second run over that track. Shaun kind of protected him after that. He came out of the race great, and we'll talk about the Gulfstream Park Handicap, although nothing is certain."

* Silver Tree, who had the distinction of being the final mount of Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey's career, worked a half-mile in 51.20 seconds at Payson Park on Friday. It was his first work since finishing second to former stablemate Miesque's Approval as the odds-on favorite under Bailey in the Sunshine Millions Turf on Jan. 28.