Ricardo Barrios will miss an undetermined amount of time in the saddle after he injured his neck in a spill Monday afternoon at Pinnacle Race Course.
"Barrios never lost feeling or motion," said clerk of scales James Long. "He's wearing a neck brace now and is going to be fitted with a halo this week. He's the kind that doesn't like to sit still."
Scott Saito, who began his career on the racetrack as a groom and became a three-time Thistledown riding champion, is now a Thistledown associate steward. He officially joined state steward Butch Gore and associate steward Dick Kinsey in the stewards' stand late last month. He replaces veteran official Bob Clark who died Aug. 7.
"The perspective is definitely different from up here then down on the track," said Saito. "But I believe I'm ready for the challenge."
By all accounts, moving the Presque Isle Mile to the same weekend as the Masters was a success and something that will be continued at Presque Isle Downs. A record number of horses were nominated for both races and both were run with full fields last weekend.
A total of 72 fillies and mares were nominated to the Grade 3 Masters and 77 horses were nominated to the $250,000 Presque Isle Mile. Both races have moved in the direction that management set when they positioned the Masters as a stepping-stone for the Breeder's Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Marsh Side, winner of Woodbine's Grade 1 Canadian International last October, breezed five furlongs in 1:03.60 on the main turf course here Wednesday in preparation for Sunday's Northern Dancer.
The Grade 1, $750,000 Northern Dancer, a 1 1/2-mile race for 3-year-olds and upward, will be one of three major turf stakes on Sunday's card along with the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile for 3-year-olds and upward and the Grade 2, $300,000 Canadian for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles. Entries for Sunday's program were to be taken on Thursday.
Harrah's Entertainment has won an auction to purchase Thistledown racetrack outside of Cleveland in a deal that could be worth as much as $89.5 million to the track's former owner, the bankrupt racetrack operator Magna Entertainment Corp., according to court documents.
A bankruptcy judge approved the auction Tuesday, one day after it was held in New York. According to Harrah's, the deal is for $42 million in cash at closing, but the agreement also includes additional payments of $47.5 million if a plan to operate slot machines at Thistledown is not torpedoed by court challenges.
Flights bringing horses from California, Kentucky, and New York for Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs near Shreveport arrived Tuesday. Regal Ransom and Soul Warrior were aboard a Tex Sutton flight that originated in New York and then swung through Kentucky to pick up Blame and Uno Mas. The California-based Massone, meanwhile, flew to town via Federal Express.
Blame might be the late-developing 3-year-old that steps up in Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. He won the .
"It's a good compliment to the horse," said Al Stall Jr., who trains Blame for Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.
MIAMI - Gary Boulanger doesn't recall very much about the afternoon of Jan. 30, 2005, or much, in fact, about the month that followed the final mount of his riding career. Most of what he knows about the incident comes from watching tapes of the spill he took aboard In Hand about one mile into the Mac Diarmida Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Most trainers go through their entire careers without getting a serious shot at a $1 million dollar race. And then there's Ian Black, who is in his fifth campaign as a trainer here at Woodbine and will be seeking his third win in a $1 million race when he saddles Rahy's Attorney for Sunday's Woodbine Mile.
Black sent out Mike Fox to win the Queen's Plate in 2007, and Rahy's Attorney will be attempting to become the first repeat winner of the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Summer Bird, whose first post-Travers workout was delayed by rainy weather last weekend, breezed an easy half-mile in 50.64 seconds over a fast main track at Belmont Park on Tuesday under regular rider Kent Desormeaux.
The move was ranked 57th fastest of 67 at the distance, but trainer Tim Ice wasn't looking to break any land speed records with Summer Bird, the Belmont and Travers winner who is scheduled to make his next start in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup here Oct. 3 against older horses.
