SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Like any new venture, the Claiming Crown was a concept that drew blank stares and quizzical comments in its formative years. But as the series has matured, its coordinator, Nat Wess, has found horsemen and racing fans to be far more cognizant of its existence and purpose.
"I get very few people now saying, 'What's Claiming Crown?,' which I got a lot of in the early years," said Wess.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last year, trainer Mark Frostad sent out Northern Kraze to record her second career win in the $250,000 Wonder Where. On Saturday, Frostad is hoping for deja vu all over again when he fields one-time winner Forest Uproar for the Wonder Where, a 1 1 1/4-mile turf race for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
While Northern Kraze had raced twice as a 2-year-old and was making the sixth start of her 2008 campaign in the Wonder Where, Forest Uproar did not debut until this June and has just two outings under her belt.
DEL MAR, Calif. - A rule change enacted earlier this year allowing horses sired by California-based stallions to run in statebred races will have a profound effect on Saturday's $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar.
Two of the leading contenders in the seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies were foaled in other states, but are by stallions that stood in California: Century Park is a Florida-bred by General Meeting, while Dani Reese is a Kentucky-bred by High Demand.
The connections of It's a Bird will appeal the Arkansas Racing Commission's decision to disqualify the horse from his win in the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap after he tested positive for a banned anti-inflammatory.
Mike Meuser, an attorney representing both Edmund Gann, the owner of the horse, and Marty Wolfson, the trainer, said he was in the process of preparing an appeal that will be filed in circuit court in Little Rock, Ark.
What's old is new again at Saratoga, where the 141st season once again features at least one Grade 1 race on each of the six Saturdays and 15 Grade 1's overall.
Duke of Magenta, we hardly knew you.
The revised prime-time lineup kicks off with the Grade 1 Diana, the coming-out party last year for the eventual filly-mare turf champ Forever Together, and the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, the key Travers prep over the 1 1/8-mile main track, on the first Saturday, Aug. 1.
Sky Mom looks to return to her old form Saturday at Presque Isle Downs when she faces 11 fillies and mares in the $100,000 Windward.
Trainer Al Stall is confident that will happen in the one-mile Windward, which will be held over Presque Isle's Tapeta surface.
"She is kind of finicky about the kind of track she runs on," he said. "She has been training at Keeneland and loves the Polytrack there. I am sure she will like the surface at Presque Isle."
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Trainer Donnie Von Hemel chuckled when asked what he thought of Euphony's chances in Saturday's $100,000 Lady Canterbury. After all, what could he say? Euphony has won 9 of 11 career starts. She has won her last six, all in stakes company, and figures to rule a prohibitive favorite Saturday.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Rachel Alexandra, Summer Bird, and company will be running for enhanced money in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.
Monmouth Park added $250,000 to the Haskell on Thursday, lifting the purse to $1.25 million for the biggest event of the meet on Aug. 2.
The winner's share will be $700,000. Second is worth $250,000; third, $125,000; fourth, $85,000; and fifth, $50,000. All other runners get $20,000.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - There certainly is precedent for Hall of Fame jockeys to find their way to Canterbury Park in the northern reaches of the American heartland. Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., Pat Day, and Julie Krone all made appearances here at one time or another, while Sandy Hawley and Mike Smith were regulars during the track's infancy in the mid-to-late 1980s.
