FORT ERIE, Ontario – A large and enthusiastic crowd was on hand for opening day, Derby Day, last Saturday as the Fort Erie Race Track began its 114th season.
A survey of all track areas, including the new betting parlor located in the ontrack slots casino, found all of them to be full and very busy.
Rick Cowan, chief operating officer at the track, was extremely pleased with the crowds on Saturday’s opening day and again on Mother’s Day, Sunday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After two lackluster efforts to begin 2011, last year’s Belmont Stakes winner, Drosselmeyer, returns to the scene of his greatest triumph Sunday, hoping to jump-start his career when he meets five rivals in the $60,000 One Count Stakes at Belmont Park.
The One Count, run at 1 1/4 miles, is a prep to the Grade 2, $150,000 Brooklyn Handicap here on June 10.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Mr. Commons worked seven furlongs in 1:24.40 at Hollywood Park on Friday for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21, surprising trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Victor Espinoza with his eagerness.
Ridden for the first time by Espinoza, who has the mount in the Preakness Stakes, Mr. Commons worked alone, and was very eager early, going the first half-mile in 46 seconds and five furlongs in 57.83 seconds, according to Shirreffs’s stopwatch. Shirreffs timed Mr. Commons finishing in 1:24.29 for the workout, slightly quicker than the official time.
A new era in Monmouth Park kicks off Saturday with an 11-race card topped by the $75,000 Decathlon Stakes.
News broke late Thursday night that Morris Bailey, a longtime horse owner and real estate executive, completed a lease to take control of the track on June 1. The meet that gets underway at 12:50 p.m. Saturday will be the first under his leadership.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Despite going winless in his last 13 starts, Seminole Brave looks like the one to beat in the feature race at Hastings Sunday. The first-level $35,000 optional claiming race for 3-year-olds and up going 6 1/2 furlongs drew six horses and goes as the fourth race.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jockey Luis Quinonez won the 3,000th Thoroughbred race of his career Thursday night at Lone Star Park, when he guided Hit It Hard home by 8 3/4 lengths in the seventh race.
“It is a lot of wins,” Quinonez said of the milestone. “I’ve been blessed to win that many.”
Quinonez guided Hit It Hard ($5.60) to the front soon after the start of the $25,000 maiden claiming race. He was aboard for trainer Ralph Irwin, a longtime patron for whom Quinonez has ridden stakes winners Tortuga Flats and Tortuga Straits.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Portside will go back to a route off a victory in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes on Sunday at Woodbine in the La Lorgnette Stakes, a $150,000 event for 3-year-old fillies.
Portside had a winter campaign at Aqueduct, where she captured a six-furlong maiden race Jan. 30. She subsequently placed in two mile and 70-yard stakes on the inner track, which included a neck loss to R Holiday Mood in the Out Ruled.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Senor Rojo looked spectacular this spring while preparing for his first start of the year in the $50,000 George Royal for 3-year-olds and up.
Not considered a sprinter, Senor Rojo was sent off at 10-1. He ran to his looks, however, finishing a fast-closing second to Grade 3 Longacres Mile winner Noosa Beach in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint.
Senor Rojo will still be sprinting when he returns in the 6 1/2-furlong John Longden 6000 on Monday, May 23, and it is safe to say he will be a lot less than 10-1.
Tiny Giant, one of the top 2-year-olds in Alberta in 2009, won just a single race as a 3-year-old last year. His trainer, Joan Petrowski, said she wasn’t disappointed with Tiny Giant despite the big difference in productivity - $81,775 in 2009 compared to $26,400 last year.
“You’re happy with whatever you get,” said Petrowski.
Tiny Giant could get off to a productive start when he makes his seasonal debut in Sunday’s feature at Northlands Park. He drew the rail in a 3 1/2-furlong $40,000 optional claiming race that drew seven horses.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Paul Attard has gotten off to a good start here at Woodbine this spring, clicking with three of the first 11 entrants he has started. Attard, 29, has some potentially exciting days on his horizon with a group of promising 3-year-olds in his barn among the 21 head he has stabled here.
Attard is the son of Sid Attard, who is perennially among the leading trainers here. He has been training since 2002 and will be looking for the third stakes win of his career when he sends out Anne’s Beauty for Sunday’s $150,000 La Lorgnette.
