AUBURN, Wash. – Lou Tice hit paydirt once. Now, perhaps, he’s done it again.
Tice’s first serendipitous turn in racing took place in September 2005, when he spent $16,000 at Keeneland for a Jump Start yearling named Assessment. The second came four years later, shortly after Assessment raced to an upset victory in the Pacific Northwest’s only graded race, the $300,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.
AUBURN, Wash. – The most consistent horse at Emerald Downs not named Noosa Beach, Cat On Base will try to keep rolling Saturday in the feature race, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance for older horses with a $50,000 optional claiming price. First post is 2 p.m. Pacific, and the feature is race 8 on a nine-race card.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Majesticality, the 2010 Grade 3 British Columbia Derby winner, makes his return in a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up at Hastings Saturday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew five horses, and while most of the focus will be on Majesticality, Sense of Humor looks like the one to beat.
It is tough to separate the 10 classy older horses running in a $40,000 optional race that will serve as Saturday’s feature at Northlands Park. Inuit Fisher has been installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite over the Joan Petrowski-trained entry of Tiny Giant and 2007 Canadian Derby winner Footprint at 3-1, but the six-furlong sprint appears to be anyone’s race.
Eight 3-year-old West Virginia-bred fillies, all seeking their first stakes victory, will clash in Saturday night’s $50,000 It’s Binn Too Long Stakes at Charles Town.
Slew of Bullets, who cuts back from two turns to one, and recent maiden winner Ideal Thoughts appear to be the strongest contenders in the 4 1/2-furlong race, which lacks a clear standout.
Yavapai Downs in Prescott, Ariz., has scrapped plans to run in 2011 just days before the track was scheduled to open for a 56-day meet, according to state regulators and track officials.
Representatives of the track notified the Arizona Department of Racing on Wednesday that the meet would be canceled due to ongoing financial difficulties. Mike Mullaney, the newly installed general manager of the track, said on Thursday that Yavapai will work throughout the year to address the track’s financial problems in the hopes that a meet can be held in 2012.
The barn area and racing office at Indiana Downs in Shelbyville, Ind., were damaged Wednesday evening after severe storms, and a possible tornado, passed through central Indiana.
One of the barns had its roof torn off, as did the racing office, which was then flooded by the torrential rains. Horses stabled in the damaged barn were moved to the receiving barn and the racing office will be moved to the track kitchen, according to racing secretary Butch Cook.
Trainer Joe Woodard has been winning with great regularity at River Downs and some horsemen and horseplayers are not thrilled about the way he is dominating the game.
Woodard won three races on each of the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday cards. Through the first eight days of racing, Woodard has won with 12 of 23 starters for owner Billy Hays.
Apprentice jockey Megan Fadlovich, 21, is an exciting new addition to the 2011 colony at Prairie Meadows. Her experience and ensuing success in a wide variety of equine spheres belies her age.
Raised in Gurnee, Ill., Fadlovich began showing hunter-jumpers at the age of 11. As a 17-year-old, she headed to the Phoenix area and began a new career as a polo groom. Within a few months, she relocated to a 15-acre farm 30 miles west of Sacramento, Calif., where she was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after every aspect of 11 polo ponies.
