OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Don’t sleep in, or you’ll miss the Sunny and Mild overnight stakes, which starts Thursday’s Big A program at 12:20 p.m. Eastern.
The $60,000 opener, once around the main track at 1 1/8 miles, drew a field of six and presents a somewhat unusual situation: 6-5 morning-line favorite Rail Trip hasn’t won in 17 months, and 5-2 second choice Ron the Greek hasn’t won in almost 22 months.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Chris Block already has put together an excellent 2011 season. Stable earnings of more than $3.2 million represent a career-best, as do Block’s eight victories in graded stakes. And the last six weeks of 2011 could bring more of the same.
Laurie’s Rocket and Jake Mo were traveling to Louisiana on Tuesday for Saturday’s Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot. The 1 1/16-mile race is one of the richest offerings for 2-year-olds in North America, and it will be run on a six-furlong oval in the small southwestern Louisiana town of Vinton.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Neil Drysdale sent out Bourbon Bay and Miss Match to work in company Sunday morning at Hollywood Park and was so encouraged by the way both traveled over the grass that he decided to run both this Saturday in the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup, the first Grade 1 race of the fall meeting.
MIAMI - Gibson, who won his maiden race under a $7,000 claiming price last April at Tampa Bay Downs, returned to dirt for the first time since that victory and ran far and away the race of his life in the six-furlong Jack Dudley Sprint Handicap on Saturday's Florida Million card. Taking command right from the start under Daniel Centeno, Gibson controlled the race throughout, steadily extending his advantage through the stretch to win by 6 1/2 lengths over the unlucky favorite, Pashito the Che.
David Jerkens took over as the Golden Gate Fields racing secretary over the weekend with a mixture of excitement and regret. The assistant racing secretary and stakes coordinator, Jerkens replaced Sean Greely, who was dismissed by track general manager Joe Morris as part of what he called a “payroll cut.”
Greely was named the Golden Gate Fields racing secretary in October 2004, and he brought Jerkens out from New York to serve as his assistant. Jerkens had been working in the New York Racing Association’s racing office.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – You won’t be hearing his name in connection with the Sovereign Awards, but Hank’s Hill could stake his claim to fame in an important category here at Woodbine this year.
Hank’s Hill, haltered for $12,500 by trainer Will Armata here Aug. 19, has scored in four of six starts for his new barn to bring his total to a meet-leading six victories.
His latest success came here last Friday when regular rider Emile Ramsammy rallied Hank’s Hill from just off the pace to score by a convincing 2 1/4 lengths for a $9,500 claiming price at six furlongs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Delightful Mary, Canada’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2010, returns from a seven-month layoff Thursday at Woodbine in a third-level allowance/$80,000 optional claimer.
Delightful Mary, trained by Mark Casse for owner John Oxley, started four times during her lucrative juvenile season. After landing her six-furlong debut in August, she beat males in a mile and 70-yard allowance by eight lengths, in front-running style.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – John Sadler ended the first week of the Hollywood Park meeting tied for second in the trainers’s standings, behind Bob Baffert. But Sadler has a terrific chance to leap forward Thursday, when he has runners in five of the eight races, including a strong pair of Kettle Corn and Java Man in the featured seventh race, an optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.
