Charlie Em and Sunday Rules will start in stakes at Del Mar in July and August after wins at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Charlie Em broke a 10-race losing streak with a dramatic win in the $78,550 Possibly Perfect Handicap for fillies and mares over 1 1/2 miles on turf. Ridden by Martin Garcia, Charlie Em ($11.40) caught 3-5 favorite Customer Base in the final stride to win by a head in 2:29.23.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Last year, it was rocks in the track. This year, it was no water truck for a week.
But with that latest glitch behind them, officials at Ellis Park expect things to go off without a hitch when the 29-day summer meet starts Thursday at “the Pea Patch” in the western Kentucky town of Henderson.
The truck used to maintain moisture in the racing surface broke down June 18, and it wasn’t until Thursday that a replacement had been secured by Ellis management.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Mr. Bowling appears to be coming around, and that could be bad news for the six horses who will line up against him in the $50,000 Lieutenant Governors’ Handicap on Tuesday at Hastings. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up headlines four stakes on the eight-race Canada Day card.
Ed Burgart will be a familiar voice to Southern California racing fans over the next two weeks.
Burgart, who has called Quarter Horse races at Los Alamitos since 1981, will call the action for the summer Thoroughbred meeting at Los Alamitos that begins a two-week run Thursday. On five nights over the next two weeks, Burgart also will call the evening races for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos.
CYPRESS, Calif. – There is no urgency to continue the career of Heza Dasha Fire, the undefeated winner of the $985,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos on June 22.
Instead of rushing “up the mountain” to try Heza Dasha Fire in the time trials for the $2.6 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico in August, trainer Jose Antonio Flores said Heza Dasha Fire’s season will be centered on two autumn races at Los Alamitos.
OPELOUSAS, La. – Citing the torrential rainfall that beset southern Louisiana on Thursday afternoon and early evening, Evangeline Downs canceled the final eight races on the program following a lengthy delay. The horses were briefly called out for the second race only to be returned to the paddock just prior to the stewards’ decision.
“We are not going to put anybody’s lives in danger,” said Louisiana state steward Brook Hawkins. “The riders said there were some spots of concern on the backstretch.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The $50,000 Chris Loseth Handicap for 3-year-olds Tuesday at Hastings should help identify the leading local contender for the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby, which will take place Sept. 14. The Loseth is one of four stakes races that will be contested on the Canada Day card.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Stewards at Churchill Downs said they were awaiting police and security reports before deciding whether to schedule a hearing in regard to a fistfight that occurred Thursday morning in the stable area between Eclipse Award-winning trainer Dale Romans and Ed Musselman, publisher of the controversial Indian Charlie newsletter.
The banner on the front pages of Daily Racing Form and The Racing Times of June 9, 1991 were the same: “The Mother of All Gooses.” It was a sly, ripped-from-the-headlines reference to Saddam Hussein’s hollow, defiant cry, “mother of all battles,” from the first Iraq War. This battle, however, proved to be not nearly as one-sided.
