HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Anthony Dutrow said that when he brought Winslow Homer over for Saturday's at Gulfstream Park all he wanted to do was "keep his place in line" on the road to the Kentucky Derby. But when all was said and done, Winslow Homer had moved forward many places in that line following a gritty three-quarter-length victory over 8-5 favorite Jackson Bend.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Gio Ponti, the champion older male and turf male of 2009, was sent from California to Florida on Tuesday to continue his preparation for a 2010 campaign.
Nicholas Bachalard, who directs trainer Christophe Clement's California stable, deferred comment to Clement in Florida. Clement declined to comment on his plans for Gio Ponti.
Gio Ponti worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 at Santa Anita on Monday before departing early Tuesday. Gio Ponti has had four works this year.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Steve Margolis had a perfect opening weekend at Oaklawn. He went 2 for 2 with his starters that invaded from Fair Grounds, winning both races in photos, including the $50,000 American Beauty on Jan. 16.
This week, Margolis could run as many as three horses at Oaklawn, led by Country Day, who is being pointed for the $50,000 King Cotton on Saturday. Margolis also plans to enter horses in overnight races here Friday and Saturday.
"It looks like we'll be making a little trip over," he said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Got darts?
They might be needed for the eighth race Thursday at Oaklawn. There is no clear-cut favorite in the first-level optional claimer for fillies and mares that carries an optional claiming price of $17,500. And, to complicate things even more, there is a chance it could rain.
The race, at 1 1/16 miles, is a mix of promising fillies and experienced mares. Miss Atlantic should get good support as a five-time winner who was second last out to Splash of Roses, who last week won her fifth consecutive race.
Faced with sharply declining handle, Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans on Thursday announced cuts to both its overnight purse structure and stakes program.
Beginning on Sunday, overnight purses will be reduced by 9 percent, according to a Fair Grounds press release. Track president Austin Miller said in the release that the reduced overnight purses would remain in effect during the track's final 34 racing days.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Winslow Homer and Jackson Bend, who put on a pretty good show when finishing first and second in Saturday's , both came out of the race in good order and if all goes well over the next four weeks figure to meet again in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 20.
The Illinois Racing Board and negotiators for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees reached a compromise Sunday night on the number of days for which six Fairmount Park racing officials would be paid this year, an agreement that will allow Fairmount to host a 52-day race meet in 2010.
An initial deadline for an agreement between the state racing board and union negotiators passed earlier this month, and had the two sides not struck a deal, Fairmount would have raced just three days in 2010.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Trainer Derek Ryan has firmed up plans for the big guns in his stable - last year's Tampa Bay Derby winner Musket Man, his 2010 Tampa Derby hopeful Schoolyard Dreams, and 2007 Tampa Derby winner Big Truck. All three worked last Thursday.
Michael Gill, who won the Eclipse Award for top owner in 2005 and led all North American owners in wins last year, once again is the subject of controversy in the wake of several of his horses breaking down at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pa.
