Although it faces a double overlap against the Sonoma County Fair its opening weekend and Golden Gate Fields on closing weekend, the 115th Humboldt County Fair at Ferndale seems positioned for a good meeting. The eight-day meet opens Friday and runs through Aug. 21.
Ferndale has two days, next Wednesday and Thursday, when it will be the lone Northern California track running, which should help its business.
Turf Paradise released its stakes schedule for the upcoming 2011-2012 meet, which will incorporate a 26 percent increase in purses for the 38 events.
The 157-day meet is set to open Oct. 1 and run through May 6, 2012, with live racing generally conducted five days a week, Friday through Sunday, with first post of 12:30 p.m.
The 56th meet is led, as usual, by the $75,000 Phoenix Gold Cup. The marquee event of the stand is set for six furlongs Feb. 18 as part of a stakes tripleheader that also includes the Turf Paradise Handicap and Sun City Handicap.
Mark Guidry will end his self-imposed retirement of nearly four years by returning to riding on Saturday at Ellis Park in western Kentucky and then continuing indefinitely on the Kentucky circuit.
Guidry, 52, was among the five retired jockeys scheduled to compete Friday in the fifth race on the Arlington Million eve card at Arlington Park near Chicago. He will resume his career the following day at Ellis, for which entries for Saturday were to be drawn Thursday.
“I’m very excited about it,” said Guidry. “I’m ready to get things kicked off and see what happens.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Haskell winner Coil did his best to convince trainer Bob Baffert that he deserves to run in the $1 million Travers Stakes by working a strong half-mile in 46.20 seconds Wednesday morning over Saratoga's main track.
With Shaun Bridgmohan up, Coil started two lengths behind stablemate Saddleranch, but quickly drew on even terms as he went a quarter in 22.66 seconds.
Bridgmohan wasn't doing much on Coil as he finished on even terms with Saddleranch. It was Coil's first work since his Haskell victory on July 31.
CHICAGO – The 29th edition of the Arlington Million largely will be billed as a rematch between Cape Blanco and Gio Ponti, the one-two finishers in the Man o’ War Stakes on July 9 at Belmont Park, but there is little doubt that to win Saturday’s Million, both horses will have to run down Mission Approved. And that, to the surprise of most, has proven to be a difficult task over the past year.
Jockey Faith Schorr was fined $1,000 by the Thistledown stewards Monday for standing up on her mount while leading inside the sixteenth pole in Friday’s seventh race. Schorr was aboard L’il Miss Sunshine, the 3-2 favorite in the $2,500 claiming race, when she stood up before the wire. Although she resumed riding after a few strides, she finished second, beaten a half-length by 11-1 shot Roma’s Gal.
AUBURN, Wash. – Emerald Downs moves into the juiciest part of its summer stakes schedule this week, with division titles up for grabs Saturday in the $65,000 Washington Oaks and Sunday in the $65,000 Emerald Downs Derby – setting the table for the following week, when the Grade 3 Longacres Mile will be renewed for the 76th time Aug. 21.
Trubs is headed to the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs following his determined win over favorite Populist Politics in last Saturday’s $100,000 Prelude Stakes. With the score he earned a free berth into the richest race of the meet, which will head a card of six stakes Sept. 10.
“We’re going to have a couple of little workouts and go straight to the race,” said Al Stall Jr., the trainer of Trubs who will be seeking his third Super Derby win behind Apart in 2010 and My Pal Charlie in 2008.
Welcome to Spa Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile contest at the meet and hope for a tidy profit. In past years, I would list the stats for each horse before writing up my analysis, selections and wagering strategy. In order to streamline the content, this year's Spa Babies will showcase written analyses of each juvenile race. Each analysis will include relevant statistical information. Following the analysis, top three selections and wagering strategy will be provided.
Welcome to Spa Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile contest at the meet and hope for a tidy profit. In past years, I would list the stats for each horse before writing up my analysis, selections and wagering strategy. In order to streamline the content, this year's Spa Babies will showcase written analyses of each juvenile race. Each analysis will include relevant statistical information. Following the analysis, top three selections and wagering strategy will be provided.
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