Sat, 02/26/2011 - 11:18

Mountaineer Racetrack begins 201-day season Tuesday night

Coady Photography
Deshawn Parker won a nation-leading 377 races in 2010.

After spending a couple months on a working vacation in Florida, the big fish is coming back to his small pond in West Virginia.

Deshawn Parker, who led the nation’s jockeys with 377 victories in 2010, will be back at Mountaineer Racetrack when it reopens after a two-month shutdown on Tuesday night.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 18:56

Oaklawn pick six finally hit

The pick six pot that built for 11 days at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., was hit on Friday, with 170 winning tickets returning $2,349 each.

The carryover was $203,977 heading into the program, with another $329,545 bet into the wager on Friday.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:51

Mission Impazible will return for New Orleans Handicap

Louis Hodges Jr.
Mission Impazible, winning last year's Louisiana Derby, will be pointed to the New Orleans Handicap.

Mission Impazible, the horse Demarcation edged in the Mineshaft, will return to Fair Grounds from Florida to contest the New Orleans Handicap, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed in a text message. Mission Impazible, who won the Louisiana Derby last year, was part of a hot early pace in the Mineshaft and ran well to hang on for a close second in his second race after a long layoff.

◗ There’s no featured race on the Sunday program in New Orleans, where the only non-claiming races of the day are a pair of Louisiana-bred dirt sprints for maidens.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:46

Baffert sorting through his Big Cap candidates

Trainer Bob Baffert may have as many as four starters in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 5, but said on Friday that he is unlikely to finalize his team until Monday .

Baffert is likely to start First Dude, who was second to the Baffert-trained Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness Stakes last year. Baffert began training First Dude earlier this month, after the colt finished a troubled fourth in the Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 29 for trainer Dale Romans.

On Thursday, First Dude worked five furlongs in 58.20 seconds, pleasing Baffert.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:36

All About Allie can adapt to any pace scenario in Rainbow Miss

Lynn Roberts
All About Allie is capable of winning on the front end or by coming from off the pace.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– All About Allie’s tactical speed should serve her well on Sunday when she takes on five others in the $50,000 Rainbow Miss at Oaklawn Park. The six-furlong race is for 3-year-old fillies bred in Arkansas.

All About Allie has won stakes from both on and off the pace, and as a result should be able to adapt to whatever scenario might unfold in the small field of fillies on Sunday.

“She doesn’t have to have any kind of certain pace,” said David Whited, who trains All About Allie for Sanders Brothers. “She’ll make her own pace, hopefully.”

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:29

Churchill-MI Developments talks fail to resolve Florida dates dispute

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Frank Stronach, the CEO of MI Developments, and his counterpart at Churchill Downs Inc., Bill Carstanjen, met in Kentucky on Friday but failed to resolve the dates dispute that could put Gulfstream Park, owned by MI Developments, and Churchill-owned Calder Race Course into year-round head-to-head competition beginning in July.

Gulfstream’s vice president of racing, Tim Ritvo, said Friday that Stronach spoke to him after the unscuccessful meeting and told him to move forward with plans to run a year-round racing schedule.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:25

Amazombie stands out in Santa Anita's Sensational Star

Benoit & Associates
Amazombie's success has even surprised his trainer, Bill Spawr.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The new, improved Amazombie that runs Sunday at Santa Anita is not the same Amazombie that sold cheap two years ago. Not even close.

The old version of Amazombie was a 2009 castoff. He was an un-raced California-bred maiden recovering from a tibia injury at a Riverside County farm. Amazombie was 75 miles southeast of Santa Anita and a long way from the winner’s circle.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:21

Dimoff named Fort Erie announcer

Mike Dimoff, a 20-year veteran of race calling, will be the new announcer at Fort Erie Racetrack this year.

Dimoff, a 43-year-old native of Toronto, will be returning from Alberta, where he was the announcer at Northlands Park through the 2009 meeting.

Fort Erie’s 2011 meeting will begin on May 7.

 

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:20

McGee's once-cold stable begins to heat up

Hodges Photography/Lynn Roberts
Demarcation (left), winning the Mineshaft, could make his next start in the New Orleans Handicap, according to trainer Paul McGee.

Trainer Paul McGee has kept at least a handful of horses at Fair Grounds over the winter for more than a half-decade, but this year McGee is wintering his entire string in New Orleans for the first time. And for the first couple months of the Fair Grounds season, that wasn’t working very well.

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 16:04

Island Fashion provides prep for Sunland Park Oaks

The $50,000 Island Fashion for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on Sunday should produce some New Mexico-based candidates for the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks on March 27.

Angel at Home will be making her two-turn debut in the Island Fashion at Sunland after defeating a number of her eight rivals in the track’s $50,000 El Paso Times on Jan. 23. She closed from next to last for the win, which was her third from four career starts.