ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Michael Baze, who came to Chicago from California for the Arlington Park meeting, currently sits second in the Arlington jockey standings, trailing leading rider Junior Alvarado 52 wins to 45. Wayne Catalano, meanwhile, is perched atop the Arlington trainer standings, with 30 wins to 28 for Nick Canani. It has been Baze aboard 24 of those 30 Catalano winners. Other riders have combined to go 6 for 45 riding for Catalano.
Star Guitar emerged from his victory in the $100,000 Louisiana Showcase Classic last Saturday night better than ever, according to trainer Al Stall Jr. The reigning Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year is on track to start in the Evangeline Mile against open company on Aug. 14. Last year he won the Evangeline Mile in addition to the meet's top race for statebred runners.
"We are in a little different situation this year versus last," Stall said while negotiating the Atlanta airport on his way back to his Kentucky base from Evangeline.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - At 7, Awesome Gem is the senior member of Saturday's $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup. He has made more starts, 35, and earned more prize money, $1,974,682, than the other six projected starters.
He also may be the outsider capable of an upset.
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and trained by Craig Dollase, Awesome Gem is making his 12th start in a Grade 1, and is still seeking his first win at that level. In 2007, he was second in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar and third in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park.
Hold That Prospect, who rose from the claiming ranks to become a multiple stakes-winning mare, had to be euthanized on July 3 after developing a case of laminitis, according to trainer Gary Gullo.
"She had really, really bad feet and it was a nightmare all along to keep care of her feet," Gullo said. "She ended up getting an infection, one thing led to another and it got worse and worse and worse and she ended up foundering."
Gullo said the loss hit him particularly hard.
Rightly So and Qualia, separated by a head in Monday's Grade 3 Bed o' Roses Handicap, could meet again in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 28, their connections indicated on Wednesday.
Tony Dutrow, trainer of Rightly So, said both the Bed o' Roses and the Vagrancy - a May 29 race in which Rightly So was beaten one-half length by Hour Glass - were both hard races on his filly and that he wouldn't look to run her back "anytime soon." However, with eight weeks to the Ballerina, that race could fit into her schedule.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - With two of the region's top older horses in his barn, trainer Gary Thomas has a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Golden Yank, who was third last out in the Grade 2 Cornhusker, and Greeley's Conquest, who will make his first start of the year Friday night at Lone Star Park, both have rich races on the horizon.
Nicky Boy, a maiden who was beaten a combined 120 lengths in her only two previous
starts earlier this year at Sunland Park, was denied entry by the New York Racing Association when owner Chadda Solange attempted to run her in the Grade 1 Wood earlier this year. But Calder accepted the 3-year-old filly's entry in not one but two races on Saturday's Summit of Speed program, both the Azalea and Princess Rooney.
As of Wednesday morning, Solange had not decided in which of the two races the filly will run.
For decades, Quarter Horse handicappers at Los Alamitos did not get far into their selections before checking on what Blane was starting. Blane was the man who owners from his native Idaho to Southern California and back in Texas and Oklahoma wanted to train their horses at Los Alamitos.
MIAMI - Trainers Michael Trombetta and Eddie Kenneally have already tasted success at Calder's Summit of Speed. So both are returning again this year, each with a pair of horses for Saturday's event.
All four of the Trombetta and Kenneally runners should be considered major players.
Trombetta won the Grade 2 Carry Back a year ago with Not for Silver and will bring him back as a 4-year-old to try his luck against older horses in Saturday's Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap.