INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ideally, the 2-year-old filly Katie’s Ten would have her first start around two turns in an allowance race, giving her a chance to build confidence before being tried in stakes over a distance.
That was trainer John Sadler’s hope, until such a race failed to materialize. Instead, Katie’s Ten makes her two-turn debut in Friday’s $100,000 Miesque Stakes over a mile on turf at Hollywood Park.
For the second time this fall, Last to Fire is the fastest qualifier to a seven-figure futurity at Los Alamitos. For the second time this fall, trainer Juan Aleman needs Last to Fire to reproduce his trial win on the night of a final.
After setting the fastest qualifying time for the Golden State Million Futurity trials in October, Last to Fire finished third in the final. Sunday at Los Alamitos, Last to Fire had the fastest qualifying time – 400 yards in 19.724 seconds – for the $2,236,600 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 11.
Yavapai Downs, which was forced to cancel its annual summer meet this year due to a bevy of financial issues, has been ordered sold by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge as part of the proposed Chapter 7 liquidation plan. The Arizona track, located in Prescott Valley about 90 minutes north of Phoenix, is made up of eight parcels of approximately 125 acres. It has been assessed at over $18 million.
NEW ORLEANS - Rosie Napravnik broke her left wrist in a spill July 7, and she made her comeback from that injury Oct. 15 at Delaware Park, riding three weeks there upon her return. But Napravnik’s main late-season goal was Fair Grounds – and no wonder.
Napravnik during the 2010-11 meet became the first woman to win a riding title at Fair Grounds, coasting to the leading rider crown with 110 wins, 31 more than the next-highest total.
“I’m really excited to be back,” Napravnik said. “I keep saying that if I do half as well this year I’ll be okay.”
NEW ORLEANS – Mambo Galliano won the 2010 Thanksgiving Handicap in his first start after a four-month layoff, a performance that proved two things: Mambo Galliano can fire fresh, and Mambo Galliano likes the Fair Grounds main track.
NEW ORLEANS – Larry Jones has not come back to the Fair Grounds for the first time since the 2008-09 season for Mardi Gras, shrimp po-boys, or second-line parades. Jones is back because he loves the Fair Grounds dirt track. It makes his horses feel good, and it makes him feel good.
“It was getting a little uncomfortable for me riding, and I thought I was getting old earlier this year,” Jones said Tuesday morning outside his office in barn 3, same place he was housed during his two previous meets here. “Now, I’m getting on 10, 11 a day, and I feel great.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher appears to be taking the strengths-in-numbers approach to this weekend’s graded stakes at Aqueduct.
Though he is likely to scratch all three of his starters out of Thursday’s Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap, Pletcher is expected to have multiple-horse entries in three of Saturday’s four graded stakes races.
Pletcher said Tuesday he planned to enter both Calibrachoa and Caixa Eletronica in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile. Those two, along with Driven by Success, were also entered in Thursday’s Fall Highweight at six furlongs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. hopes the year-end hot streak for his stable is only the beginning of a resurgence.
While he is on par to have his worst statistical season in almost a decade, Dutrow has enjoyed a stellar November, winning 16 races from 31 starters through Sunday. The bulk of his success has come at Aqueduct – his home track – where he has gone 13 for 25 during the first 13 days of the fall meet, which ends Sunday with the final day of racing over the main track.
NEW ORLEANS – In some ways, New Orleans never changes. Tourists strolling Bourbon Street with sweet, potent drinks might be lifted from a scene 20 years ago. Live oaks arch across neighborhood streets, the smell of sweet olive mixing with the under-scent of mold creeping into and seeping out of beautiful old buildings fallen into disrepair – this could be the early 21st century or the mid-20th.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday authorized the establishment of three casinos and a slots parlor in the state by signing legislation that cuts racing into a share of the casino revenues and requires Suffolk Downs to increase its number of live racing dates.
