OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The connections of Mr. Fantasy have resorted to Plan C for the promising 3-year-old's second start.
Mr. Fantasy will make his next start in a first-level allowance race for New York-breds going 1 1/16 miles Sunday at Aqueduct. It will be the seventh race on the card.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The one question trainer Ian Wilkes was hoping to answer in Friday's $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes was can Capt. Candyman Can relax? What Wilkes found out after his Kentucky Derby hopeful outlasted a game Hello Broadway by 1 1/2 lengths to win the Grade 2 dash was, yes he can.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth is still four weeks away, but anticipation is already growing for the potential match between the two latest sensations in the 3-year-old division, Spectacular Bid winner Notonthesamepage and Sunshine Millions Dash hero This Ones for Phil.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Rick Dutrow responded angrily on Thursday to an article written by columnist Andrew Beyer that raised questions about Saturday's Sunshine Millions Dash, which Dutrow won with This Ones for Phil.
This Ones for Phil rallied to a two-length victory over favored You Luckie Mann, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 117 and paying $25.40. His previous best speed figure was an 81 in his maiden win at Calder.
ARCADIA, Calif. - For the second consecutive weekend, Bahama Mama is entered in a turf stakes at Santa Anita. This Saturday, in the $70,000 Wishing Well Handicap on the hillside turf course, Bahama Mama is expected to reach the gate.
Trainer Jim Cassidy scratched Bahama Mama from the Grade 3 Tuzla Stakes last Sunday because he feared that she would not handle a "good" turf course. Saturday's course will be firm.
"I thought the ground was too soft for her," Cassidy said. "I was glad I had the foresight to nominate her to both stakes."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though he has trained horses since 1994, Jeff Barkley is about to get the most significant opportunity of his career.
With trainer Larry Jones in the process of cutting down his stable - and possibly retiring at year's end - Barkley is positioned to become an important part of Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farm Stable. Barkley currently has 18 horses at Maryland's Fair Hill training center, though even Porter admits it's not the most talented group.
There will be fewer stakes and less purse money available for top-class horses at Delaware Park this season.
The 2009 stakes schedule released Thursday contains 12 fewer stakes than a year ago. In addition, 10 other stakes sustained purse cuts, including the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks, as part of a reduction in stakes purses from $4.3 million to $3.1 million.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Rick Dutrow said he's never seen Arson Squad happier than he's been since arriving in south Florida earlier this winter. That might be bad news for his nine rivals, including Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Albertus Maximus and multi-Eclipse Award finalist Einstein, in Saturday's Grade 1 Donn Handicap.
