PHOENIX, Ariz. – Hard Seven looks to continue her sharp form in the $35,000 City of Phoenix Stakes at Turf Paradise on Saturday. A six-furlong event for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, the City of Phoenix drew a field of nine.
A first-level allowance restricted to Pennsylvania-bred 2-year-olds on Nov. 8 at Parx Racing turned out to be an extremely productive sprint. Three horses who finished in the back half of the pack in the 10-horse field returned to win next time out, which stamps one-two-three finishers Francesco Rules, Ill Conceived, and Traffic Light strong contenders in Saturday’s $75,000 Pennsylvania Nursery.
Historic Hialeah Park will open its doors Saturday for its third season of Quarter Horse racing. The 42 day 2011-2012 meet will run through Feb. 19.
Racing will be conducted Fridays through Sundays, with the lone exceptions being racing on Monday, Dec. 26. instead of Christmas Day.
Hialeah will offer a full simulcast schedule from Gulfstream, which runs Wednesdays through Sundays.
Big-rostered trainers breaking camp for the winter frequently have to decide where certain horses will be going, and for what reasons. For Mike Maker, who tied for the training title at the recently ended Churchill Downs fall meet, where to send a 4-year-old filly named La Gran Bailadora was an easy call.
“She’ll be at Turfway Park all winter,” Maker said this week from his main base at the Trackside training center in Louisville, Ky.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The $75,000 Inaugural and $75,000 Sandpiper stakes highlight a program comprising 10 races for 2-year-olds on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. Both stakes are at six furlongs on the dirt main track.
The Inaugural, for colts and geldings, is topped by Luke of York, winner of the Keeneland 75th Anniversary Stakes in his last outing.
In the Sandpiper, for 2-year-old fillies, Given Enchantment comes off a second-place finish in the Joe O’Farrell Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Calder.[bc_video_id:239990:]
NEW ORLEANS − The kid comes rolling up to the Fair Grounds front side in a gleaming, cherry-red pickup with expensive custom rims, head barely visible above the dashboard. He bounces from the reserved parking area up to the grandstand, through the west paddock gate and into the jock’s room, smiling all the way. Miguel Mena is the only other rider in the quiet room at 9 a.m. on a race day. The kid tosses a verbal barb toward Mena, at 25, eight years his senior.
Trainer Billy Morey hopes Saturday’s $75,000 Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate Fields will prove a launch pad for one of his young horses for the second straight year.
Morey won last year’s edition with Positive Response, who went on to win the California Derby, place third in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby, and then go on the road to win the $100,000 John Battaglia at Turfway Park.
This year, he sends out Lucky Culprit against five rivals in the Gold Rush, a one-mile race on Tapeta for 2-year-olds.[bc_video_id:240068:]
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Amy Tarrant was not very happy when her filly Pomeroys Pistol drew post 1 for Saturday’s $100,000 Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream Park. But despite the post and the fact she will have to carry high weight of 120 pounds, Pomeroys Pistol remains the horse to beat in the Grade 3 sprint to be decided at six furlongs.
Oaklawn’s ontrack patrons will be able to use their smart phones to wager on the track’s races when the Hot Springs, Ark., meet opens Jan. 13. Fans must sign up for the new mobile app, MyOaklawn, at the information booth on the main floor of the grandstand.
“Oaklawn is fortunate to enjoy large crowds, especially on weekends, and this service will help fans avoid long lines at the windows,” said a track official, David Longinotti.
Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., closed out its 50-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses on Sunday with a double-digit increase in average daily handle on its live races. Patrons bet an average $397,076 a day on the track’s races from all sources, up 12 percent from the 53-date meet in 2010, according to figures provided by Rick Baugh, assistant general manager of Zia.
Baugh said overnight purses at the meet averaged $210,337 a day, up from $185,035 in 2010.
