OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Shane Sellers, who last summer returned to the saddle after a five-year hiatus, will move his tack to Delaware Park after the Fair Grounds meet concludes this weekend. Sellers will be represented by agent Bill Castle, who is also the agent for David Cohen, the defending Delaware Park riding champion and the runner-up to Ramon Dominguez this winter at Aqueduct.
STRONG MEET FOR CALHOUN
Trainer Bret Calhoun has not started any horses in the local preps for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, but that does not mean his stable is light on good 3-year-olds. His strength has been with 3-year-old sprinters.
WHO'S HOT
Kent Desormeaux was having a subpar meet and spent most of the winter on the south side of the top-10 list until he posted seven victories during Florida Derby week, highlighted by Unrivaled Belle's popular victory in the Grade 3 Rampart. Desormeaux combined with trainer Bill Mott for four of those seven wins.
WHO'S HOT
Shaun Bridgmohan
Bridgmohan enters the final three days of the Fair Grounds meet with a realistic chance to capture his first Fair Grounds riding title, though indefatigable James Graham is nipping at Bridgmohan's heels, trailing 71 wins to 68 entering Friday's action. Graham has gotten 171 more Fair Grounds mounts than Bridgmohan.
You say, "Well, yeah. Bridgmohan rides almost all of Steve Asmussen's Fair Grounds starters. He should be leading rider."
I say, "Umm - you have a point."
WHO'S HOT: TURF RUNNERS
Neither the female nor male turf division is particularly deep this season in Southern California, but that does not detract from the dominance of two good local winners who affirmed their top ranking with Grade 2 wins March 20 and 21.
WHO'S HOT
John Morrison
It had been a relatively quiet winter for Morrison until last week, when he saddled the winner of race 6 on back-to-back days:
Lionish ($40.80) stretched out from six furlongs to a mile and 70 yards and added Lasix for her second career start, and she ran down 2-5 shot Divine Majesty in the final furlong of a New York-bred maiden claimer.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jeremy Noseda is based in Newmarket and has a horse running in Saturday's $2 million Godolphin Mile in Dubai. But his primary focus Thursday morning was at Belmont Park, where his top 3-year-old, Awesome Act, is preparing for the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 3 as a prelude to what could be a start in the May 1 Kentucky Derby.
"This is my priority," Noseda said. "This is a huge opportunity. Only time will tell me if we're good enough."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - It doesn't happen too often during the course of the winter, but the pick six is starting to get interesting at Gulfstream Park.
There will be a carryover of $60,656 heading into Thursday's 10-race program, with four of the six races that make up the pick six sequence carded on the turf.