DEL MAR, Calif. – Waveline looked like she was developing into a significant runner last year when her career was interrupted by a fracture to a hind cannon bone. But she’s back now, and perhaps better than ever.
Waveline returned from a 13-month layoff with an eye-catching victory at Del Mar on July 22, and meets many of the same rivals, under the same conditions, but for a bit more money, when she competes on Friday’s twilight card in the $75,000 Daisycutter Handicap.
ALTOONA, IOWA – Prairie Meadows will begin its inaugural Quarter Horse meet Friday. The meet, which ends Sept. 25, is scheduled to pay out more than $3 million in purses over the 26-day meet, about $120,000 per day.
The recently concluded Thoroughbred meet was 67 days long and paid out more than $10 million, about $160,000 per day. The separate meets are a departure from last year, when the track ran a 50-day Thoroughbred meet followed by a 32-day mixed meet.
HUMBOLDT COUNTY FAIRRACING SCHEDULE: 8 days (Aug. 13-22, dark Aug. 16-17)POST TIME: 2:07 p.m.; 3:07 p.m. FridaysHIGHLIGHTS: Aug. 21, $10,000 Les Mademoiselle; Aug. 22, $15,000 Humboldt County MarathonADMISSION: $7 to fair, $5 62 and up; $3 racing admission; free fair admission Aug. 13PARKING: $2LOCATION: 1250 Fifth St., Ferndale, Calif.PHONE: (707) 786-9511INTERNET: www.humboldtcountyfair.org
By Chuck Dybdal
Bootless may have come up a little short when she made her Northlands Park debut in a $20,000 claiming race July 28. If that is the case, she could be hard to run down when she returns for the same price in Friday’s feature, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies that drew eight horses and goes as race 5.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sugar Bay has been knocking on the door in allowance/optional-claiming company at Woodbine, and she should be favored Friday in a seven-furlong sprint that is scheduled for the turf.
Sugar Bay won four consecutive stakes during her breakout 3-year-old campaign in 2008, but she missed all of 2009. Following a 1 1/2-year layoff, she wound up fourth May 16 in the allowance prep for the Nassau Stakes.
Coyote Legend will lead a large contingent of horses trainer Bret Calhoun has pointing for the Prelude Day card of six stakes at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 28. The races are worth a cumulative $350,000, and are designed as preps for the stakes on next month’s Super Derby Day program Sept. 25.
Calhoun said Coyote Legend is headed to the $100,000 Prelude after breezing five furlongs in a bullet 59.60 seconds at his Remington Park base Aug. 5. Bobby Walker Jr. was aboard for the move, and will have the mount in the Prelude.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Telling won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational here last year, he was coming into the race having lost his 10 previous starts. That explains why he was sent off as the 33-1 longest shot on the board in the field of 10.
When Telling runs in Saturday’s 36th renewal of the $500,000 Sword Dancer, he brings a five-race losing streak into the 1 1/2-mile turf event, which probably means he will be a big price yet again.
“We’re kind of repeating the pattern, aren’t we?” trainer Steve Hobby said Tuesday from Delaware Park.
MIAMI – William Terrill was half-owner of Gourmet Dinner when the 2-year-old entered the ring at the OBS April Sales in Ocala. By the time the colt left the ring, Terrill owned 100 per cent of the youngster, a son of Trippi, who in four short months has more than won out his purchase price of $40,000 after capturing his first two career starts, including Saturday’s $75,000 Dr. Fager Stakes at Calder.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The reviews are in on Summer Movie. After his drill on the turf last week, trainer Art Sherman gave him two thumbs up, way up, and pronounced him ready to compete Saturday in the Grade 2, $150,000 La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf for 3-year-olds at Del Mar.
“He sure worked good on the grass the other day,” Sherman said Tuesday morning, referring to a five-furlong drill in 59.60 seconds last Thursday. “I thought it was super.”