The stands aren't full, but the fields are. That's the bad news/good news situation that will open four months of winter racing at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., where the $50,000 Holiday Inaugural anchors a nine-race opening-day card Sunday.
Millionaire Bold Chieftain scored his third straight stakes victory in the at Golden Gate Fields on Friday. The three-length win in the 1 1/16-mile stakes was his first win over the Golden Gate Tapeta surface.
Bold Chieftain was four wide on the first turn before being taking back a bit by jockey Russell Baze, who angled him in to save ground. He was in cruise control all the way, easily wearing down pacesetting Yacht Spotter and going on to victory over Cigar Man, with Pearl Fisher third another two lengths back in third.
Bold Chieftain finished in 1:43.81 and paid $3.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
