INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Considering the logistics, the offer may not have been the most appealing at the time.
In late summer, trainer Mike Puype contacted jockey David Flores, asking him to drive from Del Mar to Hollywood Park, about 120 miles, to work an unraced filly named Turbulent Descent. For Flores, that would consume his whole morning, but there was something in the way Puype talked that said the journey would be worth it.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - For the second straight year, Woodbine Racetrack has shown a sharp increase in all-source handle for the live Thoroughbred meeting which wound up last Sunday.
The all-sources total for the 167-day meet was $393,507,233, an increase of 8.9 percent over the $361,435,208 wagered on the same number of programs in 2009. The daily average handle of $2,356,331, up from $2,164,283 last year.
The 2009 total, in turn, represented a 7 percent hike over the previous year’s meeting.
Bad starts prevented Flying Fig from winning two seven-figure futurities at Los Alamitos earlier this year.
The filly’s last chance for glory in such a race arrives in Friday’s Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, the track’s richest race, and one that trainer Dennis Ekins thinks she can win – with a better start.
“She’s run just brilliantly on the end,” he said Wednesday morning. “She’s got to get away clean. If she can do that, she can be very competitive.”
The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders' Association will give away four scholarships during the Louisiana Champions Day program at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Saturday. Each scholarship is worth $1,000.
The winners will be determined through a random drawing, and will be announced after the fifth race. There is a special early post of 12:10 p.m. Central on Saturday. Students can begin registering for the drawing at 11:40 a.m.
Champions Day is a program of 11 stakes for Louisiana-breds, with eight for Thoroughbreds and three for Quarter Horses.
Turf Paradise has reshuffled its live/simulcast schedule for the remainder of the meet, though the track will retain its 156 days of live racing.
What had been scheduled to be a live racing card on Wednesday, Dec. 22, has been changed to a simulcast-only day.
The live racing cards of Sunday Jan. 9, 16, and 23 become simulcast-only. The Wednesday simulcast cards of Jan. 12 and 26 have been changed to live racing programs.
The simulcast card of Wednesday, Feb. 9, will now be a live race day, while Wednesday, Feb. 23 will change from a live race card to simulcast only.
MIAMI – Trip for A. J. has won four stakes and posted Beyer Speed Figures in the mid- to high 90’s on four occasions during her career. But it was a race she didn’t win or Beyer in the 90’s, Saturday’s Grade 3 My Charmer Handicap, that was arguably the best race that Trip for A. J., a homebred daughter of Trippi, has ever run.
The great parades of Mardi Gras, like Rex and Zulu, find a new king and a queen every year. The king and queen of Louisiana Champions Day at Fair Grounds in New Orleans haven’t changed in several seasons, but could this be the year Star Guitar and Superior Storm lose their Champion Day crowns?
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Three optional claimers and three maiden races comprise the pick six races at Hollywood Park on Thursday that begins with a carryover of $95,807 from Sunday. Just getting past Thursday’s third race, an optional claimer for 2-year-old fillies over 5 1/2 furlongs, will be tricky enough for bettors.
The field of six features four fillies who have stakes experience this year, but the two who do not – Farallon and Teroda – will also attract support. Bellofthebridle has the best stakes form, with two placings here in the summer for trainer Walther Solis.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Secrets are often hard to keep at the racetrack. Case in point, Devilish Spirit, who after getting beaten 17 lengths for a restricted claiming price in her debut, returned off an 11-month layoff, stepped up to the New York-bred maiden special ranks and was sent off the 5-2 second choice in a seven-horse field.
