GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Seaspeak stepped up and became a graded winner with an impressive effort Monday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup at Lone Star Park, giving trainer Ralph Nicks a second horse of quality in this year's turf division. Nicks also trains El Caballo, who missed by a nose in the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz at Fair Grounds in March.
"Hopefully, we're going to have a good summer and fall," Nicks said.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Trainer Pat Mouton had been conspicuously quiet the first few days of the 2009 meeting at Louisiana Downs, but all that changed with a bang last Saturday. Beginning with the afternoon's third race, Mouton sent out the winner in four consecutive races, a feat that has rarely been equaled in the 36-year history of the track.
"We thought we might have a pretty good day," said the usually reserved Mouton. "But winning four in a row is something."
AUBURN, Wash. - Call it a funk, a rut, a nasty slump, the mother of all cold spells. Whatever the diagnosis, Seth Martinez is suffering through the worst stretch of his riding career. The sensation of Emerald Downs in the summer of 2008 is a now an 8 percent rider, buried deep in the jockey standings and looking for the spark that will get him going.
When times were tough due to lack of field size earlier this year, Golden Gate Fields plugged away, putting on the best cards it could, even if it meant running seven races instead of eight and having to cancel a day of racing.
During the winter months, Golden Gate ran four-day weeks, although in retrospect, that decision came when it had a much higher horse population.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When the Belmont Stakes is run in a little more than a week, Calvin Borel has a chance to become the first jockey ever to sweep the Triple Crown on different horses. Knowing the context and magnitude of such an opportunity might have some jockeys sitting on the proverbial pins and needles, but not Borel.
The second race on Monday provided a heartwarming spectacle: The prolific winner Golden Hare exhibited his amazing determination to fend off Triple Nine Five by a head in a $17,500 claiming event. Now 10, the gelded son of Gilded Time won for the 27th time in 62 lifetime starts, putting his career earnings past $454,000.
Owner Maggi Moss, who has admired Golden Hare for many years, claimed him for $10,000 on May 2, and Golden Hare moved to the barn of Chris Richard.
Jockey Mike Luark is expected to be out for as long as a year after being involved in a spill in last Sunday's first race at State Fair Park.
Luark was aboard Grandeza in the mile-and-70-yard race and was moving along the rail when he was shut off and clipped heels late on the backstretch. The horse fell, knocking out a section of the inner railing while Luark landed heavily on the track and rolled several times. Luark suffered a broken vertebra and underwent surgery Monday morning in Lincoln to have a rod inserted in his back.
Following Memorial Day, the racing focus in this region turns to 2-year-old racing. The first significant action for juveniles began last week, with the ultimate goal being the rich series of stakes that begins with the two divisions of the D.S. "Shine" Young Futurity on July 4.
In a pair of maiden special events last Wednesday, there were few surprises as favorites Time N Expense and Rebel Queen won their respective races.
Charles Town has expanded its second big event night of the season by adding a stakes and promoting a fundraiser for breast cancer research.
The card on Aug. 1, which has a special 6 p.m. Eastern first post time, will now feature five stakes, headed by the inaugural running of the $250,000 Charles Town Oaks at seven furlongs.
Trainer Jamie Ness set a Thistledown record on Wednesday when he sent out his ninth straight winner at the meet.
Ness had been tied with W.J. Miller, who won eight consecutive races at Thistledown in the mid-1980s.
After losing with his first starter of the meet on May 2, Ness has not been beaten. His latest win came with Sailfin, who won Wednesday's third race, a $4,000 restricted claiming race, by 4 3/4 lengths.
"He went a good trip," said Ness. "He got hooked and fought back."
After 16 programs, Ness leads the Thistledown standings.
