Fri, 09/09/2011 - 15:04

Northlands Park: Salsa Express heating up

A very hot Salsa Express looks like the one to beat in a $30,000 claiming race that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Northlands Park. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares drew five horses and goes as race 4 on the eight-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 15:03

Louisiana Downs: Daphne Angela drops off dominant stakes score

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Daphne Angela, who in her first start in a year dominated stakes competition last month at Louisiana Downs, returns to the overnight ranks in the featured seventh race Sunday.

The 5 1/2-furlong allowance is for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares who have not won two races since March 11, 2010. It drew a field of seven horses, including the last two winners of the $60,000 Louisiana Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, Daphne Angela and Warrior Maid.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 14:30

Canterbury: Meet saves the best for last

Barbara D. Livingston
Grade 2 winner Atta Boy Roy has been stabled at Canterbury all summer. He will race on the meet's closing-day card.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – The last stakes of the season at Canterbury Park is shaping up to be one of the best. Graded 2 winner Atta Boy Roy will take on track-record holder Humble Smarty in the $35,000 Shot of Gold Stakes on Sunday.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 14:28

Woodbine: Hailstone has look of live longshot in Northern Dancer

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Northern Dancer Stakes, which will be run here at Woodbine next Sunday, tends to play second fiddle to the same day’s Woodbine Mile.

But the Northern Dancer, a 1 1/2-mile turf race which offers Grade 1 status and a purse of $500,000, is a prize well worth pursuing in its own right and also is the key local prep for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Canadian International at the same distance four weeks hence.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 14:23

Charles Town to cut exotic takeouts

Charles Town plans to reduce the takeout on trifecta, superfecta, pick three, and pick four wagers from 25 percent to 22 percent, effective Sept. 17.

Approval for the change was granted by the Charles Town Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the West Virginia Racing Commission at the commission’s meeting Friday morning.

According to the track, the reductions are the first in the 78-year history of Charles Town. The 3-percent cut represents a 12 percent decrease in the cost of the exotic wagers.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 14:09

Fort Erie: Villenueve happy to take infield plunge

FORT ERIE, Ontario – The photograph in last Tuesday’s Niagara Falls Review newspaper was a keeper. Pictured in the frame was a leaping Francine Villeneuve, airborne the day before on her way towards a swim in the Fort Erie infield lake.

That was not the first time Villeneuve had followed the time-honoured tradition of the Puss n Boots Cup race. In 1996, she came from dead last to win with the longshot Dancing for Beans, and then took the required plunge in the lake.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 13:57

Fairplex Park: Half Dome Dude may be a natural

POMONA, Calif. – Half Dome Dude beat the odds twice already. Sunday at Fairplex Park, trainer Caesar Dominguez hopes he does it again on a card filled with short prices.

The pick-six sequence (races 6-11) Sunday at Fairplex includes four favorites at even money or less on the preliminary line, including C J Russell, an apparent standout in the $50,000 Jim Kostoff Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 13:55

Belmont: Pocket Cowboys back to where he runs best for Ashley Cole

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he is based at Aqueduct and spends the summer in Saratoga, Pocket Cowboys is never more comfortable than at Belmont Park. Following another fruitless summer at the Spa, Pocket Cowboys returns to his favorite course in Sunday’s $100,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes for New York-breds, run at nkine furlongs on the inner turf.

Pocket Cowboys has recorded four of his six career victories at Belmont – including all three of his turf wins. He is winless in five starts at Saratoga, and is coming off two losses at that recently-concluded meet.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 13:21

Hastings: Castinette Dancer, Class Included head nine-horse field for British Columbia Oaks

Trevor Reynolds
Castinette Dancer cruises home under Mario Gutierrez to win the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Normally a feature on its own, the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks will be part of the supporting cast for the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby at Hastings on Sunday. Supporting the derby and Oaks are four stakes, including a couple of six-furlong sprints – the Derby Bar and Grill Express for 3-year-olds and up and the Derby Bar and Grill Ladies Express. Serving as an advertisement for the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s yearlings and mixed sale on Tuesday are both divisions of the $50,000 CTHS Sales Stakes for 2-year-olds going 6 1/2 furlongs.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 13:04

Hastings: Jebrica worth a look in B.C. Derby

Four-Footed Fotos
Couldabenthewhisky, with Gallyn Mitchell aboard, wins the Jim Coleman Province.

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