Mandella has the first-time starter Pay for Play in Sunday's ninth and final race, for maiden fillies going 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. He said Pay for Play has trained "okay" for her debut, but he is hoping the turf will help.
"She's out of Paga, who was a real nice grass mare," Mandella said. "I'm hoping the turf improves my training."
Tiz True arrived on this circuit a little more than one year ago after winning his debut at Aqueduct, and was turned over to trainer David Hofmans. He had high hopes for Tiz True, but in three races last winter at Santa Anita, on both turf and Pro-Ride, Tiz True failed to finish in the money.
"I thought he had a chance to go on the Kentucky Derby trail, but it didn't work out," Hofmans said Friday morning.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the matter of a few weeks about a year ago, the parade of top horses leaving the Bruce Headley barn, to either retirement, sale, or relocation, was staggering. Arson Squad, Magnificience, Street Boss, and Surf Cat - the four best horses in the barn - all departed.
"We went from everything to nothing," Karen Headley, the top assistant to her father, said Friday morning at Santa Anita.
The new year has dawned with great promise for the Headley barn, though.
"A lot of horses have stepped up to the plate," Headley said.
Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Presious Passion returned to the track Friday for the first time since his fifth-place finish the previous Saturday in Calder's Grade 2 W.L. McKnight Handicap. As usual, Presious Passion was full of himself during training hours while looking none the worse for wear from his experience in the McKnight.
Allen Jerkens greeted the New Year on Friday morning watching horses train from the barn area at Gulfstream Park. It was in much the same manner he did 64 winters earlier when he paid his first visit to south Florida in 1946.
Jerkens, 80, will be busy right off the bat when Gulfstream ushers in its 2010 meet on Sunday, sending out four starters on opening day, including Le Grand Cru in the $100,000 Hal's Hope Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - For the third time in as many years, Gulfstream Park will begin a meet with a newly hired racing secretary.
Dan Bork, 40, has come from his Kentucky home to Florida for the winter, having risen to the most prestigious position yet in his 17-year career in racing. Bork follows Dave Bailey (2001-07), Bill Couch (2008), and Doug Bredar (2009) in what apparently has become a hot seat at Gulfstream, where an 80-day meet begins Sunday and where pleasing a wide variety of constituencies is not always the easiest of tasks.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Clouds of dust enveloped the entrance to the Gulfstream Park racing office one recent afternoon as heavy construction equipment readied this particular north-end area of the 250-acre property for its conversion into additional parking spots.
It was just one more mini-project among the massive renovation that has been going on at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion for more than 5 1/2 years at Gulfstream, where clouds of uncertainty loom over the 2010 meet opening Sunday.
MIAMI - Fly by Phil made his turf debut a winning one, wearing down 4-5 favorite Lost Aptitude over a yielding course to register a head decision in Friday's for 3-year-olds at Calder. The Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby is the first graded race decided in North America each year.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In what was most likely the final start of her career, Distorted Passion went out in style, holding off stablemate Awesome Ashley by a half-length to win Friday's at Aqueduct. It was 6 3/4 lengths back to East Breaks in third.
The victory was the fifth from 18 starts for Distorted Passion, who continued trainer Todd Pletcher's torrid winter. Pletcher, who also ran 1-2 in Thursday's Gallant Fox Handicap, has won 14 races - including five stakes - from 30 starters since Aqueduct's inner track opened Dec. 2.
