NEW ORLEANS – Louie Roussel used to own Fair Grounds Race Course. Thursday, on opening day at Fair Grounds, the Roussel’s Mambo Galliano owned the Thanksgiving Handicap, scoring a four-length victory in the $60,000 sprint stakes.
Roussel owns and trains Mambo Galliano, a 4-year-old Black Mambo gelding who won his first stakes race in his 16th career start. For Roussel, the Fair Grounds stakes win was his first since the 1999-2000 season.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – There was hope at the beginning of the year in the Jerry Hollendorfer stable that Lions Story would develop into a Triple Crown contender.
He never appeared in such races, getting stuck at the allowance level through the late winter and spring. There is just enough time this year for a derby win for Lions Story, if he can pull a surprise in Sunday’s $250,000 Hollywood Derby over 1 1/4 miles on turf.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Endless Circle completed the cycle from low-level claimer to graded stakes winner by rallying strongly in the stretch to win Thursday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct by two lengths over Jack On the Rocks. It was three-quarters of a length back to favored Wildcat Frankie in third.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With a returning Breeders’ Cup winner in his care, Unbridled Belle, trainer Bill Mott already has something to look forward to as the calendar inches toward 2011. On Saturday, Mott hopes to learn if his prospects for the upcoming year include a leading Kentucky Derby hopeful as well.
To Honor and Serve will seek his third consecutive victory and can stamp himself a legitimate Derby contender when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct. The race will be the colt’s first around two turns and at 1 1/8 miles.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Court Vision is the only starter in Saturday’s $250,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park who ran in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs earlier this month.
Court Vision finished fifth, 2 3/4 lengths behind the incomparable Goldikova, who won the race for the third consecutive year. The Grade 2 Citation Handicap, run over 1 1/16 miles on turf, is a considerable drop in class for Court Vision, who won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in Toronto in September.
MIAMI – There is no stakes racing at Calder on Saturday. It will be the last Saturday without a stakes race in south Florida until the spring.
The local stakes calendar features six graded stakes spread out over the remaining month of the meet leading into the opening of the Gulfstream Park session on Jan 5.
Saturday’s card, while devoid of any stakes action, does feature a pair of allowance races topped by the featured 11th, which is scheduled to be run at 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf under second-level optional claiming conditions.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Four of the nine horses entered in Saturday’s $250,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile are coming out of less-than-stellar performances in Breeders’ Cup races run three weeks ago at Churchill Downs. If past performance is indicative of future success, it may be wise to look beyond Girolamo, Vineyard Haven, Haynesfield, and Musket Man when seeking the winner of the final Grade 1 race to be run in New York this year.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Altius and Citius rarely have been apart, ever since they were born a day apart. Fittingly, these two sons of the promising freshman sire Old Forester are both contenders in Saturday’s $125,000 Kingarvie Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile route for 2-year-olds at Woodbine Racetrack.
Altius and Citius are both trained by their breeder, Ralph Biamonte. The speedy Altius has been more precocious than the laid-back Citius, who rallied to beat Altius by a head while registering his first victory Nov. 3 in the seven-furlong Frost King Stakes.
PHOENIX – The filly Stormy Crystal and the colt Montellano look to establish themselves atop the Arizona-bred 2-year-old ranks as they lead their respective divisions of the $35,000 Arizona Breeders Futurity at Turf Paradise Saturday. The filly division, which goes as race 7, drew a field of 11. The colt-and-gelding division, race 8, matches 12. Both races are at six furlongs.
