ELMONT, N.Y. - Does Minister's Baby, trained by Ken McPeek, have a chance to upset Saturday's $300,000 Ruffian Handicap for fillies and mares, the highlight of an outstanding program at Belmont Park?
DRF Past Performances
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DEL MAR, Calif. - Going into Wednesday's Del Mar Futurity, Mike Pegram was wondering when his fortunes would change at his cherished track by the sea.
"I'll tell you one thing," Pegram allowed, "as much as I love this place, it seems like I've never had any luck here. But I'm like Argentina. Nobody's gonna cry for me."
DEL MAR, Calif. - The image of a bullring rider is mixed, especially at five-furlong Fairplex Park, which exists in the shadow of the big time.
Bullring jockeys can be cagey veterans, a cut below the superstars, raking in the dough while guys like Pincay, Stevens, and Desormeaux take a holiday. They can be hot young guns, fresh in from the hills, trying to make a mark that will take them to the next level.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Since there is no way to go straight from Sept. 10 to Sept. 12, like skipping the 13th floor in a hotel, Wednesday has been dedicated as a day of remembrance. So it shall be.
And while it is important to reflect upon the unspeakable events of the date, and how a nation was violated, and more than 3,000 people lost to terrorist attacks, there is also good reason to take Shakespeare's advice from "The Tempest," as uttered by Prospero:
"Let us not burden our remembrances with a heaviness that is gone."
ELMONT, N.Y. - The competitive spirit of the Thoroughbred is a never-ending source of admiration.
It was on display in generous quantity at Belmont Park last weekend as a number of talented horses took part in an outstanding program designed to highlight top candidates for the Breeders' Cup at Arlington Park on Oct. 26.
WASHINGTON - At a time when most people are pessimistic about the future of Thoroughbred racing, Frank Stronach has a messianic passion for the sport. He believes in it so strongly that his company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars purchasing racetracks, most recently Laurel and Pimlico. He is unwaveringly confident in his own ability and his vision, declaring: "I know this business. I can make it work." And he is undaunted that his latest acquisitions have been in the doldrums for a decade. He predicted, "We'll get Maryland back to being a major racing state again.
NEW YORK - You could argue that the biggest upset at Saratoga this year was Street Cry's loss in the Whitney or Zavata's third in the Hopeful. For sheer unexpectedness and margin of victory, though, the Jim Dandy of a surprise may have been Edgar Prado's 54-44 runaway over Jerry Bailey in the race for the riding title.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Darrell Vienna, tucked safely behind the desk of his stable office, spat out the word as if cursing a boil.
"Mules," he said, and shuddered.
Cut him some slack. Better known as the trainer of the top grass mare Janet, who runs Sunday in Del Mar's Palomar Handicap, Vienna is also an all-around horseman who rodeoed throughout the West in his carefree youth.
Even now he occasionally can been seen atop a cutting horse or heel roper in breakneck competition.
DEL MAR, Calif. - One year in the life of a professional athlete can make all the difference in the world, especially if that athlete is 55 years old. Muscles degenerate. Reactions slow. Recuperative powers disappear.
Part of the Laffit Pincay Jr. miracle, however, is the fact that he's doing it all backward. He's supposed to be falling apart, but instead Pincay says he feels better than he did a year ago, and a year ago he felt pretty good. Good enough, anyway, to take the race for the 2001 Del Mar riding title down to the wire before he was edged by Alex Solis, 36-34.