Storm may delay Sumter

MIAMI - Combine a prep race for a Grade 3 stakes with a potential hurricane and you get the strange set of circumstances that has developed before Sunday's $40,000 Sumter Stakes, the final local prep for the $100,000 Spend a Buck Handicap here Oct. 23.

With the status of Sunday's program jeopardized by Hurricane Jeanne, which weather forecasters predict could strike the local area sometime late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, Calder management has carded the Sumter not only as Sunday's eighth race, but also as the 10th and final event Monday. If the storm bypasses south Florida and Sunday's program goes as scheduled, Monday's card will be shortened to nine races.

The Sumter drew a field of 10, including division leader Super Frolic, multiple graded-stakes winners Tour of the Cat and Dancing Guy, local sprint star Built Up, and the red-hot Island Skipper.

For Super Frolic, the Sumter is an important stepping-stone to the Spend a Buck. A 4-year-old son of Pine Bluff, Super Frolic has not started since finishing 11th in the Side Bar Stakes on turf Aug. 15, after which trainer Milt Wolfson declared that Super Frolic will never see the turf again.

Before the Side Bar, Super Frolic posted back-to-back victories on the main track. He earned a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure beating high-priced optional claiming company June 15, then returned five weeks later to better that mark by a point when he won the Best of the Rest Stakes over Island Skipper.

Super Frolic should also benefit from what figures to be a hotly contested pace in the Sumter, with Hear No Evil, Built Up, Island Skipper, and Tour of the Cat all expected to show early speed.

Tour of the Cat will return to the main track following a pair of seventh-place finishes on grass. A Grade 2 winner last year, Tour of the Cat has captured just one of seven starts in 2004.

Built Up, like Super Frolic and Tour of the Cat, will also be happy to get back on dirt after being eased in the Miami Mile Breeders' Cup Handicap on turf. That outing was the second disappointing start in a row for Built Up since his game third-place finish in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint Handicap on July 10.

Island Skipper has not finished worse than second in his last five starts. In an allowance race July 9, he nearly matched his career-best Beyer Speed Figure when he earned a 107 for his 15 3/4-length victory.

Dancing Guy has not started since benefiting from a slow pace to upset midpriced optional claiming foes on June 25. Now 9, Dancing Guy is closing in on the $1 million mark in career earnings.

Injured Toscano out indefinitely

Jockey Paul Toscano, recently honored as the September jockey of the month, will be sidelined indefinitely after incurring a hairline fracture of his right arm and potential rotator cuff injuries in a spill nearly two weeks ago, said his agent, Dick Diego.

Toscano was injured when Cosmic Forces broke down in early stretch in the opening race Sept. 12. First diagnosed with only bruises, Toscano attempted to ride on several occasions after the mishap, but returned for a second opinion when the pain in his arm became too severe for him to continue. A subsequent MRI revealed the extent of his injuries.

At the time of the incident, Toscano had moved into the top 10 of the local rider standings.