Several solid allowance runners did well in races here at Golden Gate Fields last week and will be worth watching when they return to action locally.
Trainer Greg James has a pair of nice sprinters in Adonia, a 4-year-old filly, and Reagan Republican, a 6-year-old horse.
Adonia won a six-furlong optional claiming sprint Sunday, one day after Reagan Republican ran second in a similar spot.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Todd Pletcher's seemingly endless army of talented horses laid siege to the Palm Meadows training center on Sunday morning, coming out in well-orchestrated waves beginning shortly after dawn and ending more than three hours later when the last of his stable left the racetrack.
Lookin At Lucky worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Monday morning at Santa Anita and was scheduled to be put on a plane Tuesday morning for Arkansas, where the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male of 2009 will make his 2010 debut Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, trainer Bob Baffert said.
"He just cruised around there really easy," Baffert said. "He actually went three-quarters and out seven-eighths. I had him in 1:15 and change."
Beulah Park in Columbus, Ohio, has agreed to be acquired by Penn National Gaming Inc. in a deal that will also settle a lawsuit filed by Beulah against the publicly traded company last year, Ohio racing officials said on Monday.
If the deal closes, the acquisition will further strengthen Penn National's hand in Ohio, where the company already owns one harness track, Toledo Raceway, and has the right to build and operate two casinos, one in Columbus and one in Toledo. Penn National won the right to build the casinos last year through a public referendum that it sponsored.
Purses for the Fair Grounds Oaks, the Mervin Muniz, and the New Orleans Handicap, all Grade 2 races, have been reduced by $100,000 each, Fair Grounds announced on Monday. All three races now are worth $300,000.
The Muniz and the New Orleans Handicap now have suffered two purse cuts this winter, having been offered as $500,000 races at the start of this meet. In late January, those two stakes were trimmed by $100,000 as part of a broader-based round of purse cuts that included a reduction in overnight purses.
NEW ORLEANS - Rachel Alexandra had her final work for Saturday's New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds, going a half-mile in 49 seconds there Monday. A few hours later, she drew post 2 in a field of five fillies and mares in the 1 1/16-mile race.
The work on Monday was her seventh since Jan. 31.
"It was just an easy half, to get along with her," said trainer Steve Asmussen. "She traveled well. She's a beautiful mover. How she runs is what makes her special."
OLDSMAR, Fla. - One of the most impressive performances in a race other than a stakes this winter at Tampa Bay Downs was turned in last Friday when Island Time obliterated a first-level optional $75,000 claiming field of 3-year-old fillies going 6 1/2 furlongs.
It's time to break up the Alexis Barba stable, at least the stakes-winning 3-year-olds.
Barba has just six horses in training at Hollywood Park, and two of them won stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday - Make Music for Me in the Pasadena Stakes and Alphie's Bet in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes.
Barba said on Sunday that the pair will start in different Kentucky Derby prep races next month. The plan is for Make Music for Me to start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3 and for Alphie's Bet to run in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 10.
The first three finishers of Saturday's Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks - Crisp, All Due Respect, and Blind Luck - are headed east.
Race winner Crisp is being considered for the $400,000 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland on April 3, or may go straight to the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on April 30, trainer John Sadler said.
Runner-up All Due Respect may start in the $300,000 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park on April 2, trainer Kathy Walsh said. The same race may draw Blind Luck, the beaten favorite in the Santa Anita Oaks.
