Smooth Air, who had been the probable favorite for the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park on Saturday, was scratched from the race after a bout with colic on Thursday night, said his trainer, Bennie Stutts Jr. The scratch was made Friday.
Smooth Air won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap in his last start March 14, and was to use the Texas Mile as a springboard to the Grade 1, $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. But now, the Met Mile is out, too, said Stutts.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Barclay Tagg entered two horses for Wednesday's Grade 3 Westchester, the opening-day feature at Belmont Park. While the multiple Grade 1 winner Tale of Ekati is the more accomplished of the two horses, the 6-year-old Wicked B. Havior may be the more interesting.
Wicked B. Havior, a son of Unbridled's Song, was away from the races for more than two years because of a soft-tissue injury following back-to-back victories at the Meadowlands in the fall of 2006 for trainer Greg Sacco.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The first stakes race of the meet, next Saturday's $50,000 George Royal, is shaping up to be a great race. The 6 1/2-furlong George Royal drew a strong list of nominations that includes two-time Sovereign Award winner True Metropolitan, Spaghetti Mouse, and Krazy Koffee. With $857,796 in the bank, Spaghetti Mouse is the all-time leading B.C.-bred money winner. Krazy Koffee was the horse of the year in British Columbia last year.
The champion sprinter in the province for the past two years, B R Remark, also is expected to run.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Roger Attfield is a legend in his native Canada for a reason. The 69-year-old trainer has made the occasional splash in the United States, too, just as he did Friday by sending out the one-two finishers in the closing-day feature at Keeneland, the Grade 3, $200,000 Elkhorn Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Michael Pino, who was based here through the latter weeks of 2008 and set up a full-time division here this spring, will be looking for his first local stakes win Sunday.
Pino's ace is Heart of a King, a Kentucky-bred 3-year-old gelding who will be facing six rivals in the $150,000 Woodstock at six furlongs.
Heart of a King is owned by David Ross, who also has horses with Pino at Delaware Park and with Daniel Smithwick in Kentucky.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As big as the field for the Kentucky Derby is, that's how small the field for the Kentucky Oaks has gotten.
Another filly was forced to drop from consideration for the Grade 1 Oaks when Fitz Just Right exited a Friday workout at Churchill Downs with chips in her right front ankle, according to Jeff Lifson, spokesman for the filly's owners, the West Point Thoroughbreds syndicate. Her defection leaves just six likely starters for the Oaks, which is set for Friday at Churchill.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Overnight purses at Del Mar this summer will begin at the same level as the 2008 meeting, even though the track was forced to cut purses last summer because of slow business, director of racing Tom Robbins said Thursday.
Robbins said that a variety of factors have led Del Mar to restore overnight purses to same level as the start of the 2008 meeting. The track announced its stakes schedule for 2009 earlier this week, cutting the value of 12 stakes, while raising two races. The meeting runs from July 22 to Sept. 9.
Smooth Air, the probable favorite for the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park on Saturday, has been scratched from the race after a bout with colic on Thursday night, said his trainer, Bennie Stutts Jr. The scratch was made Friday.
Smooth Air won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap in his last start March 14, and was planning to use the Texas Mile as a springboard to the Grade 1, $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. But now, the Met Mile is out, too, said Stutts.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Smooth Air's goal this season is to nail down a Grade 1 win, and his path to that objective will run through Lone Star Park on Saturday. He is set to start as the probable favorite in the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile, which will serve as his springboard to the Grade 1, $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on May 25.
