Turf Paradise weathered the storms, literally and figuratively, at its recently ended meet.
Despite the figurative storm - a tough economy - the Phoenix track concluded its long seven-plus-month meeting May 2 more than holding its own with handle. All-sources total handle on Turf Paradise races was down just under 1 percent, but because of fewer racing days the average daily all-sources handle was up 5.3 percent.
Trainer Bruce Brown was to begin serving a 30-day suspension on Saturday after two of his horses tested positive for the banned substance hydroxyzine. The suspension was reduced from 45 days for Brown waiving his right of appeal. Brown was also fined $1,000.
Hydroxyzine was found in the postrace samples of Smooth Kahlua, who finished second in the ninth race at Aqueduct on March 5, and African Diamond, who won the third race at Aqueduct on March 14. Both horses were disqualified and unplaced in the order of finish.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pure Clan, the star turf mare whose six graded stakes wins include the Grade 1 Flower Bowl last fall at Belmont Park, has been sent from her Churchill Downs base to the Rood and Riddle equine clinic in Lexington to determine why she has been so reluctant to train.
Trainer Bob Holthus said Friday that Pure Clan apparently has a left front foot "that's been bugging her" and that a full prognosis should be available by Wednesday.
A puzzling third by odds-on La Nez in the $150,000 Melair Stakes on April 24 at Hollywood can be explained by a breathing impediment. Trainer Eric Kruljac said La Nez displaced her palate in the 1 1/16-mile race. She appeared to be breezing until the head of the lane when she shut down.
La Nez wore a tongue tie her first two starts - a standard piece of equipment for Kruljac - but then raced without it in her next seven races. She has been training regularly with a tongue tie and will use the equipment for her next start.
Setsuko has returned home and is under consideration for the Belmont, trainer Richard Mandella said this week. Runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby, Setsuko did not draw into the Kentucky Derby field due to insufficient graded stakes earnings, and instead raced April 30 in the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill. He finished fourth, possibly uncomfortable with the wet turf.
"He's back home and seems in good shape," Mandella said. "I would consider the Belmont."
Grade 3 Sham Stakes winner Alphie's Bet, briefly considered for the Belmont Stakes after winning the Snow Chief for California-bred 3-year-olds April 24 at Hollywood, will not need to ship that far for a race equally ambitious.
Trainer Alexis Barba nominated Alphie's Bet for the Grade 2 Jim Murray Handicap, a 1 1/2-mile turf race May 15 in which the 3-year-old would be facing older horses.
"That distance is right up his alley," Barba said. "I'd like to keep him in California. He's a 3-year-old against older, but does he know that?"
No 3-year-old has won the Murray.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Very little has gone smoothly for I Want Revenge since he won the Wood Memorial more than 13 months ago, so why should his first workout since April 2009 be any different?
I Want Revenge, now in the barn of Richard Dutrow Jr., returned to the work tab Friday, breezing three furlongs in 38.25 seconds on Aqueduct's main track under exercise rider Gustavo Rodriguez. But the work was far from routine.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer John Sadler was not the only one to notice how quickly Cost of Freedom pulled up after crossing the wire Thursday in race 2 at Hollywood Park. Cost of Freedom, who earned a 105 Beyer Figure for his 4 1/2-length comeback win in 1:08.36 for six furlongs, stopped 1 1/2 furlongs past the wire. Sadler asked jockey Tyler Baze, why the quick pull-up?
"That was my question to Tyler, and he said he was saving him for the next one," Sadler said Friday. "As long as it was that, I'm happy. He looked good this morning."
The Assiniboia Downs meeting was a roaring success in 2009, when the move from Sunday afternoon racing to Wednesday night racing helped increase total handle by 38 percent over the previous year.
With some slight adjustments to the schedule, Assiniboia begins this year's 65-day meeting with Sunday's Mother's Day program. A total of 64 horses were entered for the eight-race card.
"Things should be all right, horse-wise," said Ray Miller, Assiniboia's racing secretary. "We still have a lot of horses coming in every day."
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Gold Coyote, who won nine stakes while establishing himself as one of the best sprinters in the Mid-South, has been retired, said Ken Carson, general manager of the Valor Farm operation of the horse's owner, Clarence Scharbauer.
"He's turned out, just kind of pensioned now," Carson said Friday from Valor, which is about an hour north of Dallas.