HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Tom Albertrani said he’s dropping Liberally out of the Grade 3 La Prevoyante, hoping to get a confidence-boosting victory for his mare in Friday’s $55,000 optional claiming feature at Gulfstream Park.
He’s not alone.
Joining Liberally in Friday’s 1 3/8-mile main event on the turf are Tarrip and Bodua, both of whom also ran in the La Prevoyante and are trying to get back on the winning track following extended losing streaks.
Turfway Park has regularly conducted racing at night under the lights for much of its 50-plus years of existence. But when the WEBN Stakes and 11 other races are run Saturday, it will mark the first time in nearly 30 years for a Saturday night card at the Florence, Ky., track.
“We’ve had tremendous success on Friday nights, so we thought we’d give this a try,” said Bob Elliston, president at Turfway since 1999.
Though Aqueduct has canceled Wednesday’s live racing program, the facility as well as Belmont Park will be open for simulcasting, New York Racing Association officials announced Wednesday morning.
Admission and parking are free at both places.
On the simulcast menu Wednesday is Gulfstream Park, Tampa Bay Downs and Laurel Park.
Live racing at Aqueduct is expected to resume Thursday with a nine-race program beginning at 12:30 p.m. that includes a pick-six carryover of $95,551.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The phone call was quick and to the point.
“Lee, I’ve got a horse you’ve got to buy,” trainer John Sadler told Lee Searing last fall.
With that, and little extra coaxing, Lee Searing agreed to a private acquisition of Gladding, who won a maiden race by 17 1/4 lengths at Calder in October. “It was pretty simple,” Searing recalls.
Machen, probably the most exciting 3-year-old prospect in New Orleans, made a successful transition from sprinting to routing when he won an entry-level allowance race Sunday. Now it’s time to see how Machen will stack up against stakes opponents, something he could try as soon as the Feb. 19 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds.
“If everything goes well we are leaning toward the Risen Star,” trainer Neil Howard said Tuesday morning.
The dynamic historically has been straightforward: Tom Amoss brings stable to New Orleans. Stable sends out bevy of starters. Many win. For the first several weeks of the 2010 – 2011 Fair Grounds meet, the Amoss operation was slightly off kilter, with everything running second or third. But since Jan. 1, order has been restored. Team Amoss has gone 10-6-2 from 31 starters, and will be favored to get at least one more on Thursday with Starlite Starbrite in co-featured race 4.
Pimlico Race Course will again offer infield patrons at the Preakness Stakes a $20 beer mug that can be refilled unlimited times, the company said on Tuesday when announcing that infield tickets had gone on sale.
The $20 bottomless beer mug was first offered last year to reverse a 30-percent decline in attendance at the Preakness in 2009 after the track prohibited patrons from bringing their own beer into the infield for the first time. The bottomless mug offer worked: Attendance at the 2010 event jumped 23 percent to 95,760.
A huge winter storm bearing down on the Northeast prompted the cancellation of Wednesday’s live racing at Aqueduct by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, keeping a two-day pick-six carryover of $95,551 on ice.
It is the fourth cancellation of 2011, and the fifth at the inner-track meet.
New York Racing Association officials were to make a decision regarding simulcasting at Aqueduct and the Belmont Café on Wednesday morning.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Seven of the 10 members of the starting lineup for Thursday’s $55,000 optional claiming and allowance feature at Gulfstream Park have graded stakes experience. But none of that group will be able to keep up with Doctor Peach if the improving colt can carry his speed a mile and three furlongs on the turf.
The Billy Morey-trained Positive Response, winner of the Gold Rush and the California Derby, had an easy 48.40-second half-mile work Sunday at Golden Gate as part of his preparation for the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 12.
“He just went an easy half-mile,” said Morey, who had regular rider Julien Couton aboard. “He remains sharp and is doing really good. He’ll have one more work, next Sunday, probably five-eighths of a mile. That work, obviously, will be very important.”
