WHO'S HOT
Nick Zito's 3-year-olds
Ice Box, Jackson Bend, and Fly Down gave the ever-quotable trainer in-the-money finishes in each of the Triple Crown races, right or wrong?
But we're not talking about them; we're talking about sit-up-and-take-notice performances by five other Zito-trained 3-year-olds since Memorial Day, those coming in chronological order from Miner's Reserve, Shirley She Can, Wake Maker, Our Dark Knight, and Gallant Fields.
Television Games Network and its parent company, the British betting exchange operator Betfair, have reached an agreement to sponsor the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, according to Monmouth.
The sponsorship deal was reached at a time when Betfair and New Jersey racing officials are lobbying aggressively for legislation that would legalize exchange betting in New Jersey. The legislation is supported by horsemen in the state and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates Monmouth and the Meadowlands.
ALTOONA, Iowa - The $100,000 Iowa Distaff and the $100,000 Saylorville are the supporting features Friday on the first day of the Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows.
The Iowa Distaff, a race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, originally drew a field of six but will go with five after the defection of Subprime. "We decided not to bring her, I think we may send her to Monmouth." said trainer Tony Dutrow.
Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel has no reservations about where to run Euphony.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Several angles point to Ever a Friend in the third-level $62,500 optional-claiming feature on the turf Friday at Monmouth Park.
A 7-year-old gray gelding trained by Mike Mitchell, Ever a Friend has the back-class edge, owning a Grade 1 victory in the 2008 Kilroe Handicap among his six wins. He was a beaten favorite last time, finishing third in a key race. Get Serious, the winner, came back to capture the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Trainer Butch Marshall thought so much of Fudge Truffle last year that he ran him in the Grade 2 Remsen as a maiden. But it was not until last Friday night at Lone Star Park that the horse turned in the kind of effort his trainer believed was in him all along. Fudge Truffle won a maiden special weight route at Lone Star Park by more than 15 lengths, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 85 that he earned has put him under consideration for the $75,000 Assault Stakes.
"I was really, really pleased with his race," Marshall said. "It was a heck of a race."
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Ask any trainer what the key is to early season success with a 2-year-old and, invariably, the subject of maturity comes up. Veteran horseman Robert Schultz thinks the "M" word - both physically and mentally - is the reason for his promising young filly Dixieland Bull's 2-for-2 career mark.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Traditionally, the Lieutenant Governors headlines the Canada Day card and is one of the most important races at Hastings. Nonetheless, for a couple of reasons, it could be the least interesting of the three stakes scheduled for next Thursday. Supposedly supporting but possibly supplanting the 1 1/8-mile Lieutenant Governors are the $50,000 Supernaturel for 3-year-old fillies and the $50,000 Vancouver Sun for fillies and mares. Both races are at 1 1/16 miles.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - John Hancock is applying his signature in a different style. Having managed mostly lower-end stock throughout his 30-year tenure as a Thoroughbred trainer, Hancock has turned to 2-year-olds as a way to make a name for himself.
"We just took a different approach, started getting rid of our cheaper horses," Hancock said this week from his lifelong base, Ellis Park, in his hometown of Henderson, Ky. "It's been working out pretty good for us."
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The $1 million Haskell Invitational looks appealing to trainer Butch Reid, following Afleet Again's second-place finish last weekend in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park.
The Jim Dandy is in the mix. So is the West Virginia Derby. But the way Afleet Again has run and trained at Monmouth has Reid thinking the big gray colt would do best by staying home for the Grade 1 Haskell at 1 1/8 miles on Aug. 1.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said that Afleet Express came out of his victory in last Saturday's Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park in good order, and that he and the owners have not yet decided whether to run back in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on Aug. 1 or the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 31.
Jerkens noted that Afleet Express showed Saturday he likes the Monmouth track.
"He did go there and win -- I guess that's something," Jerkens said. "Still, we're stabled in New York, too. That'll have some bearing on things.'"