Allen Milligan, who earlier this week was battling Steve Asmussen for the training title at the Oaklawn Park meet that was to end Saturday, got his Lone Star Park season off to a fast start Thursday night by winning the $50,000 Premiere Stakes with Upstream.
"It was a great feeling," he said of winning the traditional first race of the meet at Lone Star.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - One day after state officials took possession of 177 horses belonging to agent/breeder Ernie Paragallo because of neglect and possible animal abuse, the New York Racing Association on Thursday notified Paragallo that it has revoked his racing credentials and will not allow his family-owned Paraneck Stable to run horses here until he is replaced as the authorized agent.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Stonehouse surged on the outside to win a three-way photo over Spotsgone and Acting Zippy in the $100,000 Fifth Season at Oaklawn Park on Thursday. The 1 1/16-mile stakes continued the Racing Festival of the South, when $2.8 million in stakes are run over the final week of the meet that ends Saturday with the Arkansas Derby.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Nick Gonzalez barn got off to a quick start here last year, winning the opening-day La Voyaguese with Shilla and the following weekend's Achievement with Stuck in Traffic.
With no entrant for the La Voyageuse this year, the Gonzalez outfit would have to be content with the second half of that double and will send out three entrants in pursuit of the $100,000 Achievement here Saturday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Lost in the amazing effort turned in by I Want Revenge in last Saturday's Wood Memorial was the solid performance put forth by West Side Bernie, whose runner-up finish to I Want Revenge earned him a spot in the Kentucky Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Wins this year in two optional claimers have made Theodora a filly to watch in Southern California. It does not even get her into the top two in trainer John Shirreffs's barn.
With 2008 champion older female Zenyatta preparing for a comeback this year, and Life Is Sweet having already won three graded stakes this year, Theodora has a way to go to crack that exacta.
"I'm really lucky, aren't I?" Shirreffs said Thursday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - That's two straight sensational performances at Keeneland for Informed Decision - and two straight brutal beats for Ventura.
With John Velazquez making all the right moves, Informed Decision used a torrid inside run Thursday to nip heavily favored Ventura in the final strides of the Grade 1, $300,000 Vinery Madison Stakes. The victory came in the first start for Informed Decision since she ran off to a 4 1/4-length romp here last fall in the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes.
John Gosden is well known in America as the trainer of the first Breeders' Cup Mile winner, Royal Heroine, and the latest Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Raven's Pass. The jockey he is bringing with him from England to ride Mafaaz in Saturday's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, however, is not as well known, despite his worldwide accomplishments.
Handle on races at the Fair Grounds meet that ended March 29 fell across the board compared with 2007-2008, a season that also saw declines from the previous year.
Despite racing five more days this year than last year, Fair Grounds's total all-sources handle at the meet was down 6.1 percent, from $353,249,033 to $331,806,035, according to statistics supplied by the Louisiana State Racing Commission. Fair Grounds does not supply handle information as part of a policy instituted by the track's parent company, Churchill Downs Inc.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.-Euphony just keeps winning. She picked up her fourth consecutive stakes win on Wednesday in the $100,000 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park, improving her local record to 4 for 4. The win came in Euphony's first start since October.
"That was cool," said Josephine Abercrombie, who bred and owns Euphony.