FORT ERIE, Ontario – Going into last Sunday’s $30,000 Fort Erie Slots Cup race, trainer Martin Drexler was facing a conundrum.
Drexler had two fast fillies, My Natalie and Gee Pari, running as an entry in the six-furlong dash. Both fillies were on the top of their games with three and two straight wins, respectively. Krista Carignan had been on board for all five trips to the winner’s circle.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Dino Condilenios still hasn’t made up his mind on whether he was going to run Almost Time in the B.C. Cup Sprint or the Classic. The Classic and Sprint are part of the seven stakes races restricted to British Columbia-breds that make up the bulk of the B.C. Cup Day card coming up Aug. 1.
AUBURN, Wash. – Noosa Beach, marching inexorably toward a defense of his title in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile, will be a prohibitive favorite Sunday in the $50,000 Mount Rainier Handicap at Emerald Downs. Only four challengers were entered to face Noosa Beach, who has won six consecutive stakes races and seems to be getting better with each start.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nelson Arroyo takes nothing for granted anymore. He missed 14 months of riding racehorses when he was sidelined with multiple injuries, including shattered vertebrae, and today he considers himself fortunate just to be back as a participant.
“It’s been unbelievable to be able to come back and do what I love,” Arroyo said on a recent morning in the stable area at Churchill Downs. “I’ve never been hurt like that before. To be able to walk again, to give myself a bath, and now to be on top of a horse, it’s all a blessing.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Friday's $75,000 James Marvin Stakes lost a bit of its luster earlier in the day when three of the original 11 scheduled starters were scratched, including Grade 1 winners Jersey Town and Gayego. Maryland invader Ravalo also will not run.
Trainer Barclay Tagg cited the strength of the field and the fact Jersey Town is recovering from a minor foot injury suffered during a workout several weeks ago as the reason he chose not to compete in the James Marvin.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The imposing Fifty Proof picks up leading rider Luis Contreras for Sunday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Nijinsky Stakes, and is the only confirmed front-runner in the nine-furlong event on the expansive Woodbine turf course.
Fifty Proof was thought to be a turf expert before capturing his first two outings of the year on Polytrack, including the Grade 3 Eclipse Stakes. Most recently on the grass in the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes, he set a moderate pace before giving way gradually to Court of the Realm, who was winning his fifth consecutive race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Biofuel failed to deliver as the odds-on choice making her first start of the season in the seven-furlong Sweet Briar Too here at Woodbine on July 1.
But with that race under her belt, and stretching out to a distance at which she has done most of her best running, Biofuel will be well-backed to redeem herself in Sunday’s 1 1/16-mile Ontario Matron, a Grade 3 race worth $150,000.
Biofuel will be the 124-pound highweight in a field of seven fillies and mares.
Trainer Jamie Ness has been fined $1,000 by the stewards at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., for entering the wrong horse in a maiden special weight race on July 13, in a case of mistaken identity that could lead to further sanctions in both Pennsylvania and Delaware, where the mix-up was discovered.
Lovethatdirtywater, already named New England’s champion 3-year-old for 2010, was crowned the 2010 James B. Moseley Horse of the Year by the New England Turf Writers Association at its annual awards dinner Thursday.
Owned and trained by John Botty, Lovethatdirtywater had earned regional champion juvenile honors in 2009.
Lovethatdirtywater raced exclusively at Suffolk Downs in 2010 and ended his season with 3 wins and a second-place finish from 5 starts, with earnings of $23,900.
