Fri, 06/28/2013 - 15:11

Hastings: Saturday Nite Ride makes local debut for Taylor

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Saturday Nite Ride will appreciate the substantially easier company she will be facing when she runs in a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew five horses and goes as race 2 on the nine-race card that begins at 1:50 p.m. Pacific.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 14:52

Woodbine: Original Script and Strut the Course avoid big fillies in Bison City

ETOBICOKE, Ontario—Things have not gone smoothly of late for either Original Script or Strut the Course, but the connections of the two hope they are at their best in Sunday’s $250,000 Bison City Stakes at Woodbine.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 14:34

Hollywood Park: Gladding drops to more comfortable level

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Gladding starts in a second-level optional $62,500 claimer at Betfair Hollywood Park on Sunday, the sort of race that best suits the two-time stakes winner this year. That is the opinion of his trainer Vann Belvoir, who claimed Gladding at Santa Anita in January.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 14:28

Gulfstream Park: Romans starting modestly at new summer meet

Michael Amoruso
“We’ll start out with some kind of presence there and just see how it goes,” said trainer Dale Romans of the summer Gulfstream meet.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Eclipse Award-winning trainer Dale Romans will show his support for summer racing at Gulfstream Park by sending in a shipment of horses to stable at the track within the next week.

Romans said he needs time to go over the condition book and work out the logistics of stabling horses in south Florida for the first time during the summer before he puts any horses on a van.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 14:28

Tampa Bay: Track holds summer card to qualify as betting hub

Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., will run an unprecedented mid-summer card on Sunday to qualify as a year-round live racetrack under the state’s statutes, allowing the track to import simulcast signals without paying another Florida racetrack for the rights.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 13:59

Monmouth: Successful Song follows familiar path that starts with Lighthouse

Tom Keyser
The Sunshine Millions Distaff (above) is one of Successful Song's five stakes victories. But she has never won a graded stakes.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Successful Song parlayed a win last year in Monmouth Park’s Lighthouse Stakes into a fast-closing second in the meet’s premier race for fillies and mares, the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher.

Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. hopes Successful Song can repeat that pattern, starting on Sunday in the $75,000 Lighthouse, a solidly competitive race at 1 1/16 miles.

The Lighthouse marks the comeback of Cash for Clunkers, on the shelf since last September after a pair of blowout losses to division champion Royal Delta.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 13:46

Woodbine: Queen’s Plate workouts to draw scrutiny

Michael Burns
Up With the Birds was the impressive winner of the Marine Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Barring any unexpected defections or surprising additions, a field of 12 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds will start in next Sunday’s Queen’s Plate.

The majority of the participants are expected to work over the weekend, and one of the most-watched moves will come from Up With the Birds and His Race to Win, who are scheduled to breeze in company for trainer Malcolm Pierce.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 13:42

Churchill Downs: Returning Moonwalk could give Romans a lift

Barbara D. Livingston
Moonwalk begins her 3-year-old season in a turf allowance on Sunday. She won the Jessamine at Keeneland last fall.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The comeback that Dale Romans plans for the second half of 2013 just happens to coincide with the comeback of a filly named Moonwalk.

Romans, the Eclipse Award-winning trainer of 2012, has had a forgettable first half to this year but is optimistic that the ensuing months will be more productive. The end of the 38-day Churchill Downs spring meet Sunday might well be where it all starts when Moonwalk returns from an eight-month layoff in the $54,000 feature, a second-level allowance scheduled for a mile on turf.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 12:46

Churchill Downs: Maker and Asmussen battle for title

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – While Ken Ramsey savors his latest record-breaking feat as the dominant horse owner in Kentucky, his principal trainer, Mike Maker was involved in a battle for leading trainer honors as the Churchill Downs spring meet wound to a close.

Into the final three days of the meet, Maker held a tenuous 33-32 lead over Steve Asmussen. Both trainers were scheduled to be extremely active during the last two programs: Maker has entries in two races Saturday night and five on Sunday, while Asmussen is represented in sseven races Saturday night and three on Sunday.

Fri, 06/28/2013 - 12:43

Fort Erie: Five-win day propels Cheyne to top of jockey standings

FORT ERIE, Ontario – Brian Cheyne was on a roll last Sunday as he brought home five winners on the eight-race card at Fort Erie, including both halves of the daily double.

Cheyne, Bradley Wilson, and Melonie Pinto are all battling for top riding honors and have 11 wins each heading into Sunday’s card.

Wilson rode the winners of the first two races on both June 11 and June 16.

Former exercise rider wins first race

Apprentice Sheena Ryan rode her first winner of Fort Erie’s meet on Tuesday’s twilight card.