Last year, it wasn't unusual to see the entry box at Delaware Park remain open beyond 5 p.m. as the racing office struggled to put together a card, sometimes having to settle for as few as seven Thoroughbred races, many with five- or six-horse fields.
So it was particularly encouraging to new racing secretary Pat Pope that he was able to close entries for Saturday's opening-day program at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, filling nine races for Thoroughbreds and one for Arabians with a total of 92 horses.
Betting on Hollywood Park through Television Games Network was restored Thursday after a one-day blackout because of a dispute over payments on wagers.
The dispute ended just before first post Thursday, the second day of Hollywood Park's spring meet. Although TVG broadcast the races from Hollywood on opening day, the account-wagering operator - the largest in the country - did not take any wagers on the races.
Handle through account-wagering companies on Hollywood's opening-day card was down $1 million compared with last year's opening day.
Sunland Park's average daily handle for its 77-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that closed Tuesday was off less than 1 percent from the corresponding meet a year ago. The track handled an average $807,566 a day on its races from all-sources this meet, compared with $813,083 over 77 dates in 2007-2008.
Of the total amount, an average $711,683 was bet on the track's races offsite, up .3 percent from last meet's average of $709,306. Ontrack, patrons bet $95,883 a day on Sunland's races this meet, down more than 7 percent from $103,777 in 2007-2008.
Askmetodance, a winner of 7 of 11 lifetime starts and victorious at odds-on in allowance company at Sunland Park in her last start, is the one to beat in the $75,000 Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap at SunRay Park. The highweight at 123 pounds, Askmetodance will square off against nine fellow New Mexico-breds at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Trained by Ray Ashford Jr., Askmetodance accounted for the Aztec Oaks here last year. She is a four-time stakes winner and appears to be as good as ever.
Trainer Kelly Von Hemel has won the last two renewals of the $50,000 Goldfinch Stakes at Prairie Meadows, but this year it may be his brother Donnie K.'s turn.
While Kelly is conspicuous by his absence in the six-furlong stakes for 3-year-old fillies, Donnie Von Hemel will be represented by the regally bred Lorettine. A daughter of Cherokee Run out of the Grade 1 winner Confessional, Lorettine dug in to win an entry-level Oaklawn Park allowance race by a neck on March 15.
Turf season has barely begun in the East, so it's not surprising that seven of the 11 horses in the $75,000 Henry Clark Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday come into the one-mile grass race following layoffs ranging from six weeks to six months.
Based on the successes their trainers have had with turf runners returning from a freshening, Ghost Hour, Independent George, and Mint Slewlep merit respect.
AUBURN, Wash. - Mizzen You, a speedy maiden from California, and Crocodile Tuff, a late-running sprinter from New Mexico, have at least two things in common. They share the same trainer, Dan Markle, and they'll try to play spoiler Saturday in the six-furlong, $30,000 Inaugural Stakes at Emerald Downs.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - After an eventful week leading up to Saturday's $75,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes, a field of eight has been entered for the 1 1/16-mile showcase event of the meet.
The week started off on a down note when last year's runner-up, Wayzata Bay, was pulled from consideration on Tuesday. On Thursday, trainer Randy Morse entered multiple graded stakes winner Jonesboro in the race, along with his expected entrant, Prospective Kiss. Prospective Kiss arrived here earlier this week.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Lady Rizzi, who finished seventh last time out in the $75,000 Tampa Turf Dash, drops a notch in class when she takes on male rivals, including the ageless wonder Rockhurst, in Saturday's Tampa Bay feature. The second-level allowance has a $32,000 claiming option and will be run at five furlongs on the turf.
Former jockey Sandy Shields, 76, died at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, on April 17.
Shields was a leading rider in western Canada between 1957 and 1974. He won more than 1,500 races for earnings of $1.8 million. Shields, who also rode in the western United States and Mexico, was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Saskatchewan Hall of Fame in 2004.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Chapel of the Mountain View Funeral Home at 1605 - 100 Street S.E., in Calgary.