For $27,000 last fall, Jose Gonzalez bought a yearling colt closely related to a horse who won six times for him in Mexico a few years ago.
Cash This Okie won "some pretty big races" in Mexico, Gonzalez said. His little half-brother West Coast Hawk is doing even better in the United States.
Last Saturday, West Coast Hawk pulled a 14-1 upset in the $362,300 Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos, the first futurity of the year at the track.
ELMONT, N.Y - Make Music for Me, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby who arrived at Belmont Park on Monday from Kentucky, galloped 1 1/4 miles over the sloppy Belmont main track Wednesday morning as he continues preparations for the Belmont Stakes on June 5.
Andy Durnin, a longtime employee of trainer Alexis Barba and the exercise rider of Make Music for Me, said the colt has settled in to his New York surroundings "great."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Last July, in her 4-year-old debut, Bubbly Jane came off a nine-month layoff to win an overnight stakes going 1 1/4 miles on turf at Belmont Park. Saturday, Bubbly Jane begins her 5-year-old campaign in the Grade 2, $150,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont, which will be her first start in 6 1/2 months.
Jane Magrell, the winningest female rider in Thistledown history, will be sidelined indefinitely after sustaining a broken leg in an accident at the starting gate prior to the start of Monday's final race.
"My mount flipped behind the gate, I came off and he landed on my leg," said Magrell.
She had surgery on the injured leg on Wednesday.
Jess You and I, a three-time champion Quarter Horse who won his first start outside of California earlier this month in the Grade 1, $98,370 Oklahoma Challenge Championship at Remington Park, is sticking around for a while.
Toby Keeton, who has overseen the horse's training while he has been in Oklahoma, said Jess You and I is being pointed for the Grade 1, $250,000 Remington Park Championship on May 29.
Trainer Chris Hartman is making an impact in his first season at Prairie Meadows.
Through the first 16 days of the meet, Hartman has won with 10 of 29 starters (34 percent) and $150,966. He is tied for second in the trainer standings with last year's top trainer, Lynn Chleborad, and two behind Chris Richard.
Hartman came to Prairie Meadows from Sunland Park in New Mexico, where he won three consecutive training titles before finishing second this year with 40 wins from 209 starts.
The early numbers for Lincoln Race Course were very encouraging as the track opened to an enthusiastic crowd of 4,885 last Friday night.
The track, now under the management of Omaha Exposition and Racing, reported a 16 percent gain in all-sources handle compared with last year's opening weekend.
The track has also been receiving good exposure through local TV station KOLN/KGIN, which had early morning on-site reports Monday through Wednesday his week.
River Downs is not one of the places you would think to find leading candidates for top national owners, trainers, jockeys, or horses. But this year it is.
Billy Hays, car dealer turned horse owner, is the leading owner in the country with 95 wins through May 18. Hays's friend and trainer Joe Woodard is fourth in the country in wins with 98, one behind Todd Pletcher. Yuri Yaranga, first-call rider for Woodard, is fifth in the country in wins with 118, four behind Rafael Bejarano.
Aces N Kings, who was an impressive debut winner at Lone Star on April 16, returns to action in Friday night's trials for the colts and geldings division of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity. The finale, which has an estimated purse of $80,000, will be June 5.
Aces N Kings won a maiden special weight by 6 3/4 lengths. He returns in the second race, with Eguard Tejera aboard for trainer Bob Young. His competition includes Tamtastic, a half-brother to Taptam, the runner-up to Zenyatta in last month's Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn.