ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mark Casse, who has been taking care of business on his Florida farm and attending the various sales in the vicinity, will be making his first appearances of the Woodbine meeting this week.
And amongst the races of particular interest to Casse will be Saturday's $150,000 Fury, a seven-furlong stakes for Ontario-foaled 3-year-old fillies.
Casse will send out Attitude Included in the Fury, which attracted a field of eight headed by Resentless and Roan Inish.
AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs added rolling $2 daily doubles to its wagering menu last week, giving bettors another multi-race option to complement the pick three and the pick four.
While the initial rolling double pools were small - an average of $1,847 per double Sunday - track officials expect them to grow as bettors realize the wager is available on every race. Previously, Emerald Downs offered doubles on the first two races and the last two races of every card, and those pools were markedly higher last weekend, averaging $4,655 for the two wagers Sunday.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Bella Diamante has gotten her second wind, literally, just in time for Friday afternoon's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. The race will be her second start since minor throat surgery, and she will be out to build off an eye-catching allowance score at Oaklawn on April 2.
Bella Diamante, who last weekend shipped from her Lone Star Park base to Churchill Downs, showed a good deal of promise early in her career. She ran second in three consecutive route stakes, including the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Princess in December.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Nearly three years have passed since Jack's Wild was a force in the turf mile division for statebreds.
This year, trainer Jorge Gutierrez would be happy if Jack's Wild wins an optional claimer, such as Friday's seventh race at Hollywood Park.
"The horse has been doing great, but the last few races have been over his head," Gutierrez said. "I think at this level he should be tough."
In 2007, Jack's Wild won stakes at Santa Anita and Bay Meadows and placed in two other stakes. This year, Jack's Wild is winless in four starts.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - I finally saw something this morning that I hadn't seen during training hours at Churchill Downs in almost a week: the sun! But that was not nearly as surprising as what I witnessed during the 15-minute window of training for Derby and Oaks horses following the renovation break, when I got to watch arguably the best Derby worker and best Derby galloper since my arrival in Louisville 10 days earlier. Unfortunately, neither will run in the race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Endorsement was declared out of the 136th Kentucky Derby after being injured in his final pre-race workout Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.
Endorsement, owned by WinStar Farm and trained by Shannon Ritter, suffered a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture of the right front ankle, according to Dr. Bo Landry, the attending veterinarian.
Betting on the Hawthorne spring meet that ended Sunday held steady from 2009, something like a victory in the current economic climate.
Total average daily handle increased by 2 percent during 2010's 44-day meet, improving to $2,031,710 compared with $1,990,306 during 2009's 38-day season, according to figures provided by Hawthorne. Out-of-state betting on Hawthorne races, up 3.5 percent from $1.645 million to $1.703 million, drove the overall increase, with ontrack betting on live races down 13 percent, from $117,115 last year to $101,473.
Indiana Downs was forced to shorten the distance of its last two Thoroughbred races and cancel three Quarter Horse races Monday evening due to mechanical problems with the backup truck that pulls the starting gate. The primary truck is undergoing repairs for mechanical problems.
The seventh was an allowance race scheduled to be run at a mile and 70 yards with a field of six. One horse was scratched due to the change of distance to six furlongs.