HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The quality of the field for Saturday's $250,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park has been well documented, although the presence of Derby Watch members Capt. Candyman Can, This Ones for Phil, Notonthesamepage, and Beethoven did little to scare away the opposition.
A full field of 12 3-year-olds was drawn Wednesday for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, which will be run at a mile for the first time in the illustrious 63-year history of the race.
There have always only been two options for trainer Bret Calhoun's top 3-year-old prospect Silver City, but as far as paring the two down to one, Calhoun has not gotten very far. In fact, he said Wednesday that he is perfectly content to sit back and wait to determine whether Silver City will remain at his Fair Grounds base to start in the Louisiana Derby, or ship back to Oaklawn Park for another joust with Old Fashioned in the March 14 Rebel Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $1 million Santa Anita Handicap has largely developed in recent years into a seven-figure race for locals, save for the occasional invader from the East Coast.
But this year's running on Marcho7 will be different. Court Vision and Einstein are intriguing contenders from Florida, and they will not have come the farthest.
On Wednesday, Dansant, who has won five stakes in England in the last 18 months, left Great Britain for California.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The way True Resurgence won a third-level allowance race here on Dec. 11, it looked as though he could be a major player in the older-male stakes run over Aqueduct's inner track this winter.
His connections aimed higher than that, however, and tried him in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope Stakes at Gulfstream Park. For whatever reason, True Resurgence didn't take to the south Florida sunshine and he finished 11th of 14 in the Hal's Hope, 10 lengths behind Delightful Kiss.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rick Porter bought more yearlings than usual back in 2007, and is reaping the rewards this spring as he owns two of the top-ranked colts on this year's Kentucky Derby trail, Old Fashioned and Friesan Fire.
"We're pretty darn lucky," Porter said Wednesday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The best horse in California will run in the richest race of the winter, but the outstanding miler Matto Mondo is no cinch March 7 in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap.
Trainer Richard Mandella confirmed Tuesday that Matto Mondo will forsake the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe at a mile on turf, and instead stretch his speed 1 1/4 miles in the Big Cap. Although the distance is three-sixteenths farther than the Group 1 race that Matto Mondo won in Chile, at least the Big Cap will be run on familiar footing.
A return to sprinting returned Selva to the winner's circle, as the talented 3-year-old filly won the Mardi Gras Stakes on Tuesday at Fair Grounds by 1 3/4 lengths over her stablemate Fleet Streak.
Selva won the first three starts of her career, all sprints, scoring an 18-1 debut upset at Saratoga before capturing the Sorority at Monmouth and the Glorious Song at Woodbine. And while Selva did not disgrace herself in the Tiffany Lass Stakes last month at Fair Grounds, she did suffer her first defeat, finishing second after setting a strong pace in a two-turn mile.
The status of a 2009 race meet at Fort Erie took a step backward on Monday when it was announced that a deal to purchase the Ontario track by a group composed of local horsemen, the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corp., and the municipal government had fallen through, at least for the time being.
Nordic Gaming Corp., which owns and operates the track, had been considering a purchase offer that bore a deadline of 11 a.m. Monday. In a statement released that afternoon, Nordic Gaming stated that the offer contained conditions the company found "unacceptable."
