DEL MAR, Calif. - Veteran jockey David Flores has regained the mount on Monterey Jazz for Saturday's $300,000 Del Mar Mile, replacing an injured Tyler Baze.
For Flores, the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile will be the first time he has ridden Monterey Jazz since a sixth-place finish in the at Santa Anita in February. Flores was aboard Monterey Jazz for two of the 5-year-old horse's biggest wins - the Grade 2 Strub Stakes and Grade 3 Texas Mile in early 2008.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wise River, based at Churchill Downs with trainer Clark Hanna, checked into Woodbine last weekend for Saturday's Play the King.
The Grade 2, $200,000 Play the King, a seven-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds and upward, is the major local prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile on Sept. 20.
And Hanna, who trains Wise River for owner Don Penge, is hoping that the Play the King serves exactly that purpose.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Three generations of Canadian-bred fillies and mares will be represented when La Voyageuse, Alywow, and Maryfield are inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame on Thursday evening.
The annual ceremony will take place at the nearby Mississauga Convention Centre, with Peteski and owner/breeder Gustav Schickedanz joining the female trio as this year's Thoroughbred inductees.
Trainer Kenneth "Butch" Marshall has several criteria when scouting out 2-year-olds at auction, but one of the most important to him is a horse's composure in the sales ring. These days, his theory is looking golden. Marshall shipped into Louisiana Downs earlier this month and almost swept both 2-year-old turf route stakes on the Prelude Day program. He sent out the undefeated Forestry Steel to a head win in the $50,000 Sunny's Halo, while maiden Miss Afleet Alex came rolling from next-to-last to finish second in the $50,000 Donnie Wilhite Memorial.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For a guy better known for his steeplechase horses and long-distance turf runners, Jonathan Sheppard has quite the sprint filly in his barn, too. Informed Decision has won five straight races, and will try to secure her position as the front-runner for a year-end female sprint championship when she takes on the reigning Eclipse Award winner, Indian Blessing, in the Grade 1, $300,000 Ballerina Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga.
FERNDALE, Calif. - Turf specialist Parko ($3.20) edged pacesetting Power Star after a stretch-long duel to capture the $25,150 Humboldt County Marathon in the final race of the Humboldt County Fair's 2009 meeting Sunday.
Power Star, under James Wooten Jr., broke sharply and controlled the pace nicely in the 1 5/8-mile race that sees runners pass the finish line four times. Parko was content to sit off the pace early but moved into contention at the one-mile mark.
Golden Gate Fields has decided not to submit a request for two San Francisco offtrack betting sites, one at a North Beach restaurant bordering Chinatown and one near AT&T Park. Golden Gate was prepared to submit the request at Thursday's California Horse Racing Board meeting at Del Mar, but decided not to when the San Mateo Jockey Club, an existing offtrack site in the town where Bay Meadows used to be located, claimed the new sites would be too close to it, said Golden Gate's general manager, Robert Hartman.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Silvercup Baby, a 10-1 outsider in a field of six older New York-bred fillies and mares, ran down odds-on pacesetter Dance Gal Dance to win Monday's overnight stakes by one length under Javier Castellano.
Trained by Carl Domino, Silvercup Baby ($22.80) stalked in third outside of Dance Gal Dance, the 3-5 favorite who set fractions of 22.58 seconds and 45.14 while being pressed by 5-2 second choice Under Serviced.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The connections of the impressive Alabama winner Careless Jewel will target the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Santa Anita in November. How they get there is something that has yet to be decided.
If things break as they could, Careless Jewel could be one of the favorites for the Ladies' Classic, to be run Nov. 6 over Santa Anita's Pro-Ride surface. Rachel Alexandra isn't being pointed the Breeders' Cup, and Zenyatta, the undefeated 5-year-old mare, is under strong consideration to take on the males in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 7.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The decision by owner Jess Jackson to run Preakness and Haskell Invitational winner Rachel Alexandra against older males in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward here Sept. 5 was greeted with mixed emotions by the connections of the other horses planning to run in Saturday's $1 million Travers Stakes.
Tim Ice, trainer of Belmont Stakes winner and Haskell runner-up Summer Bird, was somewhat looking forward to a rematch with Rachel Alexandra at the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Travers.
