SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. Three years ago, trainer Bill Mott won the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes with the promising After Market. Four months later, owner Marty Wygod moved the horse to California and Mott was out of the picture.
Fast forward to Friday and Mott a 1998 Hall of Fame inductee wins the Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga with Courageous Cat, a full brother to After Market. This time, Mott will not let the horse out of his sight.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mike DePaulo will be looking for a couple of wake-up efforts here Sunday when he sends out both Tenjectory and Krz Exec for the $125,000 Victoriana.
Authenicat, trained by Josie Carroll, will be favored for the Victoriana, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares that attracted a field of nine.
DePaulo can take heart in the fact that Tenjectory defeated Authenicat in that one's only previous start on turf, which came in last year's La Prevoyante over one mile on yielding going.
Dallas Keen is winning at a 50 percent rate at Louisiana Downs - and he just reloaded.
Thursday, the trainer brought 20 additional horses to the track to more than double the size of his local stable to 35 head. Keen's barn has gone 8 for 16, his most notable scores coming with Hotlantic, the $50,000 Top Corsage winner who is eyeing Grade 1 company at Keeneland, and Icy Kitten, who picked up her third straight win over the local turf course Aug. 8.
Keen said a number of factors have come together for his stable this meet.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Barbara Heads is content to keep Tierra Del Feugo at home and point her to the $125,000 B.C. Oaks on Sept. 26. Heads has other options, most notably the $75,000 Sonoma Stakes at Northlands Park next Sunday where she would probably be the second choice behind La Rocca, who will be shipping in from Woodbine.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It is a long way, both in distance and character, from the hardscrabble neighborhoods of Dublin, Ireland, to suburban Arlington Park. Jockey James Graham has a foot in both worlds - and a chance for his first riding title this summer at Arlington.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If Rachel Alexandra doesn't show up in the entries, then next Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama becomes a wide-open affair. Don't Forget Gil cemented her position as a top-flight contender Friday morning with her second consecutive sharp workout over Saratoga's main track.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The setting remains the same. Each morning, trainer Ron McAnally takes his position on a balcony above his barn, the one that affords an almost complete view of Del Mar's racetrack, and, off in the distance, a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.
COLUMBUS, Neb. - Kansas Thoroughbred Association Futurity runner-up Sheer Class will meet local winner Five Oclock Shadow in the $10,000 Club House Special on Sunday at Columbus. The six other 2-year-olds in the six-furlong Club House are maidens.
Sheer Class, a filly trained by Kelly Clark, was second in the KTA Futurity at the Anthony Fair in Kansas and should vie for the role of favorite with the David Anderson-trained maiden winner Five Oclock Shadow.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Bent Attorney will make her first start since winning the $50,000 Ernie Samuel Memorial in Sunday's Rainbow Connection at Fort Erie.
The $125,000 Rainbow Connection, a five-furlong turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares, has attracted a field of six and is the highlight of Sunday's eight-race program. The Rainbow Connection is the second-richest race of the Fort Erie meet after the $500,000 Prince of Wales.
As the Ellis Park meet hits its high point Saturday with the Grade 3 Gardenia Stakes, easily the most pressing question concerns the long-term future of the 87-year-old Henderson, Ky., track. Will Ellis reopen for 2010 or beyond?
Ron Geary, the Louisville businessman who purchased Ellis from Churchill Downs Inc. in 2006, does not have a firm answer.
"We're still in the evaluation stage about all that," Geary said Thursday. "We've got to make up our minds by Oct. 1 whether to apply for dates. We're still looking at all the options trying to find a way to make it viable."
