LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After walking around the Churchill Downs turf course Wednesday, prodding the ground with a cane-like probe to determine just how firm the going was here in Louisville, trainer Michael Stoute and Juddmonte Farms racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe reached a decision on Workforce’s status for the Breeders’ Cup Turf: They decided not to decide.
“We’re going to monitor each day,” was how Stoute put things.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – They emptied out all the pills, and still, no relief. The handicapping headache that is the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint could have its winner come from pretty much anywhere in the full gate of 14, with a wide-open Churchill Downs tote board portending as much.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jim McAleney remained in Etobicoke General Hospital on Wednesday after suffering serious injures in a spill here Sunday afternoon.
McAleney, 41, broke all of the ribs on his left side, his left collarbone, and suffered a collapsed lung after his mount appeared to clip heels and went down in deep stretch.
His agent, Danny Williams, said that lung X-rays taken Tuesday afternoon had shown improvement and doctors were able to remove a tube which had been inserted to drain off excess fluids.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s plenty of action on Friday, what with six Breeders’ Cup races. There will be cameras, what with ESPN2 televising four hours, beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern time. And, for the first time in Breeders’ Cup history, there will be lights, what with Churchill Downs having installed permanent fixtures first used in June. The Breeders’ Cup is being run for the 27th time, and though it was only miles from Hollywood, Calif., the previous two years, only this year can one truly say, lights, camera, action!
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – For a jockey not at Churchill Downs this weekend, jockey Joe Talamo could be in the right place. He will be in high demand at Hollywood Park on Friday and Saturday with many rivals from the jockeys’ room out of town.
Friday, Talamo rides Muny in the $55,000 Riot in Paris Stakes over a mile on turf. A 5-year-old gelding, Muny won the 2008 Oak Tree Derby at Santa Anita, but lost his next four starts before winning a $50,000 claimer on Oct. 16 in his 2010 debut.
Steve Asmussen plans to send a 30-horse stable to California in December to race at the Santa Anita Park meet, Asmussen said on Wednesday at Churchill Downs. Scott Blasi, Asmussen’s longtime assistant trainer, will oversee the Santa Anita string.
Asmussen’s move coincides with the installation of a new dirt surface at Santa Anita. The new racetrack is expected to be ready for training in early December.
“We don’t want to be guinea pigs or anything, but we’ll get out there after the dirt is in,” Asmussen said.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Jockey Luis A. Gonzalez won the 2,500th race of his career Tuesday at Thistledown, when he guided Avaryl's Pal to a 5 3/4-length victory in the fifth race for trainer Brad Sparks.
Gonzalez, a 43-year-old native of Panama City, Panama, began his career in 1984 and won his first race aboard Sinbad for trainer Gerald Sweatt on Aug. 8 of that year. He has career mount earnings of more than $24 million. One of his biggest career wins came in the 1989 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The last Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs left all except the hardest contrarian awash in satisfaction. Ouija Board was a chalky 7-5 winner in 2006, and the victory − which followed a win in the 2004 running and a second in 2005 − reminded American racing fans what a world-class grass horse looks like. Another one has come to Churchill this week, and Midday will be strongly favored to succeed where Ouija Board failed by winning the Filly and Mare Turf for the second year in a row.