Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Steal Your Face by a nose at Remington

Steal Your Face made two meaningful moves for the $50,000 Silver Goblin at Remington Park on Friday. He returned to the Oklahoma-bred ranks for the race, and he got back to the 6 1/2-furlong distance of his last stakes win. The result was a dramatic nose win over Herecomesthemannow.

Steal Your Face ($10.80) had one horse beat early in the Silver Goblin, as Fifth Date led the field through an opening quarter in 21.47 seconds. Steal Your Face advanced, picked up rivals through the lane, and won on a track rated fast in 1:16.35.

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Rail Trip out until springtime

Benoit & Associates
Rail Trip won the Hollywood Gold Cup, but missed the BC Classic with a foot bruise.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Rail Trip, the winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup in July, will not return to racing until April, trainer Ron Ellis said earlier this week.

Rail Trip was a candidate for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 7 until mid-October, when Ellis said that a bruised foot had cost the 4-year-old too much vital training time. He was considered one of California's leading hopes for the BC Classic, which was won by the locally based mare Zenyatta.

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Wiggins ends career with a bang

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hal Wiggins ended his training career in spectacular fashion Friday at Churchill Downs when his final starter, High Spirit, posted an improbable victory at 26-1.

High Spirit paid $55.60 after rallying from well back to win the first-level allowance race under Terry Thompson. Predictably, Wiggins was mobbed by friends and well-wishers in the winner's circle. The victory was the 872nd of his career.

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Carroll calls it a career after 36 years as trainer

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Del Carroll, who saddled more than 500 winners during a career that spanned 36 years, has retired from training horses and will pursue other opportunities outside of the sport.

Carroll's last day of training was Nov. 20. Of the 16 horses he had at the time, nine went to Bruce Brown, three to John Morrison, and four were retired. Carroll's two primary owners were Pont Street Stable and Our Eyes Wide Open Stable.

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Euroears back at top of his game

Louis Hodges Jr.
Euroears, who missed substantial time recovering from a leg fracture, looked as good as ever on Thursday winning the Thanksgiving Handicap.

NEW ORLEANS - With his 1 1/2-length victory Thursday in the Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds, Euroears gave his connections enough confidence to begin planning a winter and spring campaign.

"We didn't have any plans past yesterday," said trainer Bret Calhoun on Friday. "But he was great and he came out of the race in good shape."

Although Euroears has now won four stakes at Fair Grounds in his career, Calhoun is tempted to eye bigger prizes out of town.

"I'd like to try to get him graded races, but there is nothing on the horizon," said Calhoun.

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Rahystrada a River City stunner

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Rahystrada looked terrific in winning a turf allowance last month at Keeneland, but did anyone really notice? Apparently not.

Dismissed as the second-longest shot at 56-1 in a field of 10 older horses in the River City Handicap, Rahystrada made pretty much everyone look silly with a dominating score in the secondary feature on the Clark Handicap card at Churchill Downs.

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Simon getting the hang of Ontario

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Stuart Simon had never started a horse at Woodbine when he set up shop here this spring.

A mainstay in Alberta for nearly 20 years, Simon, 46, has won 9 races and had 21 in-the-money finishes from 66 starts here. He will devote all of his energy to Ontario in 2010.

"It was a good year for a guy to get his feet wet," said Simon, who will be saddling his last entrant of the meeting when Instinctiveafleet comes over for Sunday's 11th and final race. "We found out what kinds of horses were needed here and how things work."

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 00:00

Rachel arrives at Fair Grounds

Rachel Alexandra arrived by van at the Fair Grounds late Friday afternoon, joining the rest of Steve Asmussen's string in New Orleans. Rachel Alexandra had been headquartered in Assmussen's barn at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Rachel Alexandra began jogging at Churchill Downs last week after being given a rest following her victory in the Sept. 5 Woodward at Saratoga. Asmussen said that he has no immediate plans to work Rachel Alexandra.

"Nothing's scheduled," he said. "She won't work for a long time. She's only galloped four miles since she has been under tack."

Thu, 11/26/2009 - 00:00

Euroears cruises in Thanksgiving Handicap

Euroears has started a new winning streak.

The brilliantly fast 5-year-old chestnut horse won his first six starts - four of them at Fair Grounds - before injury derailed a career that had not yet found a ceiling. Euroears lost his first race back after a long layoff, then lost two more when a second surgery was required to repair the original repairs made on his injured leg. But Euroears got back to his winning ways last month at Hoosier Park, and made it two in a row with a comfortable victory Thursday in the at Fair Grounds.

Thu, 11/26/2009 - 00:00

Serenading best in Falls City

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - You might say there were a few no-shows Thursday at Churchill Downs for the Falls City Handicap, which was won in a mild upset by the Canadian invader, Serenading.

Swift Temper was scratched early in the day from the . Then the 1-2 favorite, Unbridled Belle, just didn't show her usual stuff on the racetrack, breaking sluggishly under Ramon Dominguez, bidding toward the lead at the quarter-pole, then flattening out to be a well-beaten third.