ETOBICOKE, Ontario--The Jordan Express just keeps on rolling.
Beginning with Tigerheat's win in the first race here June 17, trainer Terry Jordan has won with seven of his last eight starters, the latest being Makani in Thursday's first race. Drunken Love, his only loser during that span, was claimed for $62,500 from a third-place finish to contribute his share to the Jordan coffers.
Jordan, however, is not about to get carried away with his current tear.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - It has been a long and successful reign, but Saturday's $50,000 Rise Jim Stakes at Suffolk Downs should result in a transfer of power in the Massachusetts-bred stakes ranks, when the multiple statebred champion and $627,285 earner Ask Queenie starts her 8-year-old campaign against the 4-year-old No More Goodbyes.
The spring meet ends Friday at River Downs, but the meet leaders were pretty much decided by Tuesday. Perry Ouzts will win the riding title for the 20th time as he had 71 wins through Tuesday, 29 more than the next jockey. Joe Woodard will win the training title for the fifth time, with 22 wins through Tuesday, six more than his next rival.
River Downs has not kept track of leading owners through the years, but Billy Hays will win the mythical owners' title, with 32 in the first 49 days of racing. That is quite an accomplishment and may be the record.
Trainer Robert Gorham continued his domination of the trainers' race when he saddled three winners on Tuesday's eight-race card. The Kalamazoo veterinarian now has 11 wins, including one stakes, from 48 starts in nine days of racing. Mary Anne Barron and Richard Rettele stand tied at second with five wins each.
On Tuesday, Gorham won the opener with Little Diddy No ($7.80) with Jeffrey Skerrett aboard. Little Diddy No is owned by Dr. Marion Gorham, Gorham's sister and partner at the West Main Animal Hospital.
This Sunday has been designated Mike Luark Day at the Lincoln State Fair with a fundraiser and silent auction to help the 20-year-old rider injured in a spill here May 24.
Luark suffered six broken vertebrae in the accident and underwent a 4 1/2-hour surgery the following day to place two rods and several screws to stabilize the injury. He is likely to miss a year of racing. The fundraiser will go to aid the rider and his young family - his wife, Jess, and 6-month-old daughter, Holly.
Jockey Ricky Faul, a longtime regular on the Louisiana circuit and a crowd favorite, announced this week that he is hanging up his tack after a career that has seen him win 3,352 races. Faul will be honored in a ceremony Saturday night at Evangeline Downs that not only will mark his final race as a rider but also his 28th wedding anniversary with his wife, Donna.
Friends and family of the late Amelia "Milly" Otsea gathered in the Canterbury Park winner's circle after the third race on Saturday to celebrate the memory of the Mankato, Minn., native who had worked in the concessions department since the earliest days of Canterbury Downs.
It didn't take Victor Lebron long to return to the winner's circle. The 24-year-old jockey suffered fractures and tissue damage in his right ankle during a spill at Turfway Park in March. On Tuesday, in his third mount back after his layoff, Lebron won aboard Prime Choice ($5.20) in the sixth race at Indiana Downs for trainer Chuck Peery.
When the spill first occurred, doctors said he would be out six months.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Sixteen winning tickets were sold on Wednesday's pick six at Belmont Park, with each correct ticket returning $33,705.
There was a two-day carryover of $154,891 entering the day and an additional $692,654 was wagered into the pool on Wednesday, which was a dark day for both Churchill Downs and Hollywood Park.
The winning sequence of 5-13-1-5-12-3 consisted of Saint Midas ($8.90), Quonata ($3.40), Quiet on the Tee ($12.80), Crazy Thing ($7.20), Crazy Catlady ($27.40), and Carmen's Kiss ($7.90).
MIAMI - Steve Standridge has been training horses for 23 years, the majority of them in south Florida. During that period, Standridge recorded 573 victories, 25 in stakes races, and won purses totaling more than $10.6 million.
But now Standridge is, at least temporarily, out of business, not of his own volition but as a result of a problem that continues to trouble horsemen throughout the country: workers' compensation.
