OLDSMAR, Fla. - Few trainers have enjoyed more success at Tampa Bay Downs than Kirk Ziadie, so it should come as no surprise that he seems ready to make a run at the training title here this season. Ziadie won the title in 2005-06 but scaled back his local operation the past two seasons before returning this meet with a barn full of runners.
Ziadie surged to the front in the standings coming into Saturday's program, having saddled 14 winners from 31 starters, a blistering 45 percent win rate.
Mountaineer Casino, Resort, and Racetrack in Chester, W. Va., plans to lay off 175 workers, or nearly 9 percent of its employees, the track's owner said Friday.
The cuts will affect all operations at the casino and racetrack, according to MTR Gaming Inc., Mountaineer's parent company. Late in 2008, the company laid off 93 workers, or about 4 percent of its employees at the time.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park has developed a reputation as a launching pad for 3-year-olds, and Silver City looked like he might be another Hot Springs runner with a future on Friday as he simply cruised in the opening-day $50,000 Dixieland Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Barely a half-hour had gone by after Romance Is Diane sold for $1.35 million at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale a few months ago when trainer Mike Mitchell's phone rang.
The caller wondered if Mitchell would resume training Romance Is Diane, a filly the trainer had guided to four stakes wins in 2007 and 2008. The caller was leading breeder, and new owner, Frank Stronach.
"He asked me if I'd take her," Mitchell said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - After suffering the frustration of losing an apparent Grade 1 win to a stewards' decision in the Cigar Mile last fall, trainer Todd Pletcher was eager to get Harlem Rocker back to action later this month in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap. But Pletcher and owner Frank Stronach must exercise further patience now, as Harlem Rocker's scheduled return has been postponed.
NEW ORLEANS - Dallas Stewart emerged from quarantine looking to make up for lost time. After three weeks of being prohibited from racing and only being allowed to train after the general population had finished, Stewart had the equine herpesvirus quarantine on his barn lifted Thursday.
With the ban removed, Stewart entered two horses for races at Fair Grounds on Sunday. He will now also be allowed to send Macho Again to Gulfstream for the Jan. 24 Sunshine Millions.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Beulah Park canceled for the third consecutive racing day Saturday due to frigid tempatures in the Columbus, Ohio, area.
"The temperature is supposed to go down to minus 11 tonight and then snow tomorrow," said Joe DeLuca, steward and track superintendent. "Rather than try to take off the snow as it comes down and risk taking up too much of the new surface, we will be better served to wait and make sure the track is in great shape for racing next week."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Harlem Rocker, among the more highly regarded handicap horses in the country coming into the 2009 season, will miss his scheduled debut in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Jan. 31, according to trainer Todd Pletcher.
"He had a temperature Tuesday, and it will force us to miss a few days of training, and you can't have too many hiccups coming into a race like the Donn," Pletcher explained.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The longshots continue to dominate racing at Santa Anita. So do the carryovers. Mission Viejo Halo ($68.80) won Thursday's seventh race as the longest shot in the field, leading to a two-day carryover of $461,236 for Friday's program.
Friday's pick six covers the third through eighth races. There was one early scratch as of Thursday - Tribunal Blues in the fourth race.
The pick six features five main track sprints and a one-mile maiden race on turf.