Laurel Park canceled its Friday card after the second race due to track conditions. The Friday program started under snowy skies.
The central Maryland track cancelled live racing Wednesday and Thursday after snow hit the Baltimore and Washington D.C. areas.
Live racing is expected to return Saturday with a nine-race card. First post is 12:35 p.m.
After calling 20,191 consecutive races at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., announcer Terry Wallace decided to watch Friday’s fifth race on the track apron in a move that brought an end to a streak that began 37 years ago. Frank Mirahmadi, who had been retained as the backup announcer for Oaklawn for 2011, took over for the fifth race, with Wallace returning to call the remainder of the card.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park's ten-cent Rainbow Pick-6 was hit for the first time Thursday, with one lucky ticket-holder walking away with the entire jackpot of $221,677.41. The winning ticket was bought for $640 at a U.S. offtrack site through an Oregon wagering hub.
Gulfstream management said it would seed the new jackpot with $15,000 for Friday's card.
"Because so many customers are having a lot of fun with this bet, we've decided to seed the pool beginning Friday with $15, 000," said Gulfstream's president and general manager, Steve Calabro.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park officials late Thursday afternoon lifted the quarantine track management had implemented earlier that morning on one barn at the track and four others at its training center at Palm Meadows after an unidentified horse from trainer Jonathan Sheppard's barn displayed signs of a potential neurological disorder.
Pica Slew was an exceptionally fast filly at 3 last year, a season that included two stakes wins at Calder, notably the Grade 3 Azelea Stakes.
After an eighth as the 7-2 favorite in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga last August, a race in which she led early and faded, Pica Slew was sent to trainer John Shirreffs. The filly makes her first start for Shirreffs in Sunday’s $250,000 Santa Monica Stakes over seven furlongs.
Shirreffs does not expect Pica Slew to be wildly fast for her California debut.
Bob Baffert, who leads all trainers at this meeting with 19 wins through Sunday, has two starters in an intriguing maiden special weight race for 3-year-olds over six furlongs in Saturday’s second race.
Baffert starts Tokubetsu, who was a game second at Hollywood Park in his debut on Dec. 5, and Midnight Interlude, a first-time starter by War Chant. Midnight Interlude is owned by breeder Arnold Zetcher and has shown quick works, including two from the gate, in recent weeks.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Graded stakes wins on Santa Anita's turf course give Jeranimo and The Usual Q. T. an advantage in Saturday's $300,000 Sunshine Millions Turf here. They will need it.
Jeranimo won the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes on the course over 1 1/8 miles, the same distance as the Sunshine Millions Turf for California-breds and Florida-breds. The Usual Q. T. was third in that Dec. 27 race, and won the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby in 2009 over the same course and distance.
C C’S Pal, who in her last local appearance finished second in the 2010 Florida Oaks, makes her 2011 debut at Tampa Bay Downs Saturday when she tops a deep and talented field of 11 fillies and mares in the $50,000 Manatee Stakes at seven furlongs.
Rosemary Homeister Jr. will handle C C’s Pal for trainer Derek Ryan in the Manatee, the first of two stakes for older fillies and mares at this meeting. The $50,000 Wayward Lass completes the series and will be contested at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 26.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Native Ruler is the class of the $50,000 King Cotton at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, but he still has a significant question to answer in the six-furlong stakes for older horses. The race will be his first since September, so he will be giving up recency to all seven of his rivals.
Stately Victor and Southern Anthem appear primed to put on a show through the stretch run of Saturday night’s Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Cup Turf at Sam Houston Race Park. Both horses registered their biggest career wins at the handicap’s 1 1/8-mile distance, and each is thriving heading into what is the richest race of the meet.
