Tue, 07/12/2011 - 22:07

Indiana Downs: Eskimo's Best repeats in Florence Henderson

Eskimo's Best needed the entire Indiana Downs turf course stretch, but she got up to win her second consecutive Florence Henderson Tuesday evening.

Trained by Richard Kohnhorst, Eskimo's Best pressed the pace under Victor Lebron in the 1 1/16-mile race for Indiana-bred fillies and mares. She edged past Whistlin Jean late to win the $87,550 race by a neck. Whistlin Jean was second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Dr. Powers in third.

A 5-year-old daughter of Best of Luck, Eskimo's Best returned $4.40 and ran the distance in 1:44.88.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:52

Arlington: Stidham optimistic Willcox Inn has right stuff for Secretariat

Four-Footed Fotos
Willcox Inn, with Robby Albarado riding, wins the American Derby.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Mike Stidham has sent out the winner in four of Arlington’s last five turf stakes for 3-year-olds. Workin for Hops won the Arlington Classic and the American Derby in 2010, a feat his stablemate Willcox Inn has duplicated in 2011, but this year, Stidham hopes he capture the big prize, the $400,000 Secretariat.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:44

Uncle Mo gallops 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga

Barbara D. Livingston
Uncle Mo gallops 1 1/4 miles over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga on Tuesday morning.

A day after returning to Saratoga, where he launched a championship juvenile campaign with a runaway debut victory on Travers Day, Uncle Mo beat the heat with an early-morning gallop on the Oklahoma training track Tuesday.

Under hot and humid conditions, with the mercury climbing well into the 80s by mid-morning, Uncle Mo was out at 6 a.m. to gallop 1 1/4 miles.

“He galloped well this morning,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who recently said bringing Uncle Mo back in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes on Aug. 27 was “doable.”

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:36

Belmont Park: Connie and Michael returns on the turf

Barbara D. Livingston
Connie and Michael will return to the races on Thursday at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Connie and Michael, last year’s Mother Goose runner-up and sidelined since running sixth in the Alabama Stakes, makes her seasonal debut against seven other 4-year-old fillies in Thursday’s $54,000 optional claiming feature scheduled for the Widener turf at seven furlongs.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:04

Delaware Park adds five to Wall of Fame

Susan’s Girl, a two-time winner of the Delaware Handicap, and trainer Oscar White, who won the Delaware Handicap twice and the Delaware Oaks three times during a career that spanned more than three decades, are among the five newest inductees to Delaware Park’s Wall of Fame.

The remainder of the class of 2011, announced Tuesday, are jockey William Hartack, E.P. Taylor’s Windfields Farm, and former longtime Delaware executive John W. Rooney.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:00

Emerald Downs: Average daily handle up 1.2% during meet's first half

AUBURN, Wash. – Emerald Downs reached the midpoint of its 82-day meeting last Sunday, and there’s good news to report. Through the initial 41 days, the average daily handle was $1,254,473, an increase of 1.2 percent from the corresponding date a year ago.

Remarkably, ontrack attendance was up 16 percent, Emerald Downs president Ron Crockett said.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:35

Woodbine: Guest Appearing heads Casse pair

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Guest Appearing caused a stir on Queen’s Plate Day when he spooked from the drumbeats of a nearby band during the post parade, dumping jockey Tyler Pizarro.

Despite being shaken up, Pizarro remounted and rode him in a 22-1 upset score over Ontario-sired maiden special opponents.

Guest Appearing will return in Thursday’s Woodbine headliner as one of two Mark Casse-trained runners in the Ontario-sired allowance route for 3-year-olds, along with Nine Winds.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:20

Sacramento: Nine-day meet to offer reduced pick-four takeout and higher purses

Placed on the calendar between the popular Pleasanton and Santa Rosa fair meets, the California State Fair in Sacramento may not be optimally placed to attract the best horses. But that doesn’t mean it won’t pull out all stops for fans and horsemen.

The nine-day meeting begins Thursday and runs through July 24 with two dark days, next Monday and Tuesday. It will conduct racing on Wednesday, July 20, in conjunction with the opening of Del Mar.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:13

Calder: Musical Romance valiant in defeat

Jim Lisa
Musical Romance finished second in last Saturday's Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder.

MIAMI – Fifty yards from home in the Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap, it appeared Musical Romance was not only about to complete a sweep by locally based horses of the four graded stakes on last Saturday’s Summit of Speed program but also complete a Cinderella seven-week run for trainer Bill Kaplan and the connections of the 4-year-old filly.

Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:58

Prince of Wales getting new blood from Keogh barn

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Five of the seven probable starters for Sunday’s Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie will be coming out of the Queen’s Plate.

But there will be some fresh blood in the mix thanks to trainer Mike Keogh, who planned to enter both Oban and Welloiledmachine on Wednesday for the $500,0000 Prince of Wales.