Winter Meeting returns from lengthy absence in turf sprint

ALBANY, Calif. - Winter Meeting will be one of three older fillies and mares seeking a repeat victory in Sunday's feature at Golden Gate Fields.

Eight runners meet in a $40,000 claiming race at 4 1/2 furlongs on the turf course.

Miss New York, Madison Davis, and Winter Meeting all exit victories, while Boca Dream scored a win in her last start at Sunday's distance.

Winter Meeting, who has won three of four lifetime starts, will run for the first time since her wire-to-wire victory in the Miss Gibson County Stakes at Turf Paradise on Nov. 17, 2001, as a 2-year-old.

She will be ridden by Chance Rollins, who has decided to move north from Santa Anita after going 0 for 39 with seven seconds and two thirds there during the meet there. Rollins had two mounts on Saturday and will have three mounts in addition to Winter Meeting on Sunday.

Miss New York was claimed from a win in a $25,000 six-furlong sprint on Jan. 10 at Santa Anita. Madison Davis comes off a victory in a $32,000 five-furlong sprint on the main track here on Dec. 20. She finished first in a similar sprint on the Bay Meadows turf course on Sept. 29, but was disqualified and placed seventh.

Albany meeting

The City of Albany on Thursday held the first of two scheduled public meetings to discuss Magna Entertainment Corporation's vision for possible future development of the 108 acres of waterfront property it owns in the city.

Magna has indicated it would be interested in pursuing development around Golden Gate Fields for a possible hotel, entertainment center, and shopping area.

Any development would be subject to a vote by citizens of Albany under requirements of a law passed in 1990. Measure C requires a city vote for any changes to the waterfront area.

In the only vote taken under Measure C, voters in 1995 approved a card room at Golden Gate Fields, but a lawsuit was filed to overturn the vote and a card room was never constructed.

The prevailing sentiment of the more than 100 residents who turned out for the meeting was to preserve the open space around the track. A second meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 3.

Radke returns

Kevin Radke, who won the Emerald Downs riding title with

143 victories last year, will begin riding at Golden Gate Fields on Wednesday. Radke, who has taken time off since the end of the Emerald meet last fall, will ride here until Emerald begins its 2003 season.

Gary Baze, also based at Emerald, began riding here this week and scored victories on each of his first two days, including a victory on a speedy

3-year-old named Zayed on Thursday.

* Jockey Jorge Aragon and apprentice Marcia Stortz are serving three-day suspensions. Aragon was suspended for Feb. 1, 2, and 5 for his ride on Mr. Scott Man in the eighth race on Jan. 25. Stortz was suspended for Feb. 2, 5, and 6 after being disqualified from third and placed fourth for her ride aboard Daynnightnightnday in Wednesday's sixth race.