Hurricane Ike’s speed should place him on a lonely lead in Saturday night’s $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup at Sam Houston Race Park. But the bigger handicapping question is whether he will be able to carry it over the race’s 1 1/8-mile distance.
“We’re all going to find out at the same time,” said Michael Stidham, who trains Hurricane Ike.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though most of his success has come around two turns, Johannesburg Smile showed a new dimension when he finished a good second in the Grade 3 Toboggan at six furlongs last month.
Saturday, Johannesburg Smile will sprint again when he meets nine rivals in the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap going six furlongs at Aqueduct.
With a seeming abundance of speed signed up for the Tom Fool – including California shipper Comma to the Top – Johannesburg Smile should get plenty of pace in which to close under John Velazquez.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The champion juvenile filly of 2012 has a chance to redeem herself in front-running fashion Saturday at Santa Anita.
Beholder was compromised by a throat ulcer her first start of 2013, a fizzling runner-up finish Jan. 21 as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez. All will be forgiven if she wires the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday.
Eight entered the $250,000 Las Virgenes, and while Beholder deserves top billing, she faces a serious new challenger in Fiftyshadesofhay.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On the road to the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct shapes up as a starting point for Overanalyze and a proving ground for his 11 rivals.
Overanalyze is one of just two graded stakes winners in the field, having ended his 2-year-old season with a nose victory in the Grade 2 Remsen over Aqueduct’s main track last Nov. 24, his last start.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Caught Napping needed a rest after finishing third in the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last September.
“He was going through normal 2-year-old things,” said Phil D’Amato, trainer Mike Mitchell’s assistant. “We let him develop. We think he’ll be a better 3-year-old.”
An update on Caught Napping’s condition will be known after Saturday’s $75,000 Baffle Stakes for 3-year-olds over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. The Baffle has drawn a field of 10, including the 2012 sprint stakes winners Amarish and Native Treasure.
Malcolm Pierce has his Fair Grounds mojo back. After winning with just 2 of 45 starters during the 2011-2012 Fair Grounds season, Pierce has enjoyed a far more fruitful meeting this winter, with 7 wins from 27 runners. The Canadian-born trainer, whose bread and butter is the long Woodbine meet, already has unveiled a pair of talented Ontario-bred 3-year-old fillies, Deceptive Vision and Dance Again, and in the $75,000 Black Gold Stakes on Saturday sends out one of the leading Ontario-bred 2-year-old colts of 2012, Up With the Birds.
ARCADIA, Calif. – He’s Had Enough, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November and fifth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 23, will make his next start in the $2 million United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 30.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Thursday that He’s Had Enough was invited to the Dubai race before the Fountain of Youth, and that plans continue for the colt to be shipped to the Middle East.
“We accepted and we’ll do that,” O’Neill said. “We have five weeks and it’s $2 million.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Game On Dude has earned his reputation as California’s top handicap horse largely through his success in races at 1 1/4 miles. Yet races at that same distance also have produced plenty of disappointments for the 6-year-old gelding.
Game On Dude won the 2011 Santa Anita Handicap and the 2012 Hollywood Gold Cup, both at 1 1/4 miles. Saturday, he will be favored to become the fourth horse to win two Santa Anita Handicaps, following John Henry (1981-82), Milwaukee Brew (2002-03) and Lava Man (2006-07).
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – For Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the $60,000 Gazebo for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park on Saturday is more than just a little sprint feature. It’s the launching pad for Kentucky Derby hopeful Titletown Five, a horse the Wisconsin native named for the Green Bay Packers and one of its most outstanding players, No. 5, Paul Hornung.
It could be anyone’s guess who can make the lead when a wide-open group of older fillies and mares meet in the $10,000 Bold Accent Stakes in Saturday’s featured race at Fonner Park.
The field of nine includes defending champ Prospectors Alycat plus several stakes winners and an abundance of front-end speed.
