ARCADIA, Calif. - What was once commonplace has become a rarity. Owner John Toffan and trainer Paco Gonzalez will be after their first graded stakes win in nearly seven years when Burg Berg starts in Saturday's $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks at Santa Anita.
Toffan, along with his late partner Trudy McCaffery and Gonzalez, were fixtures at the top of racing in the 1990s and earlier this decade, racing such major stakes winners as Bien Bien, Bienamado, Came Home, Del Mar Dennis, and Free House.
Fasig-Tipton Texas has cataloged 237 juveniles to its 2-year-olds in training sale at Lone Star Park on March 31. The under-tack show is scheduled for March 29. Both the auction and the workout portion of the sale begin at 10 a.m. Central.
Stallions represented in the catalog include Alphabet Soup, Buddha, Burning Roma, Candy Ride, City Zip, Eddington, Eurosilver, Favorite Trick, Forestry, Forest Wildcat, Holy Bull, Indian Charlie, Officer, Orientate, Sky Mesa, Stormy Atlantic, Valid Expectations, and Yes It's True.
When one person had the lone winning Fortune Six ticket last Friday, it returned $34,840 and marked the second time the 25-cent Fortune Six had been hit with a carryover this meet. It is a far cry from the record $364,589 that was paid out for the Fortune Six on Jan. 30, 2007. That is the highest payout in the United States for a wager less than a dollar.
Jockey Jesus Ponce enjoyed a career weekend at Fonner Park. Following a $41.20 upset in the Ogataul Stakes aboard Skwhirl on Saturday, Ponce booted home five winners on Sunday's card to trail Damon Leeds by a 14-13 margin after three weekends of racing. Leeds posted a four-win day on Friday.
Scorewithcater, a game winner over last year's Canadian 2-year-old champion Mine That Bird in last Saturday's $100,000 Borderland Derby at Sunland Park, will return for the $800,000 Sunland Park Derby, according to his trainer, Doug O'Neill. The Sunland Park Derby will anchor a seven-stakes program on March 29 that will also include the $200,000 Sunland Oaks.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There will be an interesting subplot to Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan when Driven by Success makes his stakes debut against eight horses, including West Coast Flier.
Mike Repole owns Driven by Success, a New York-bred son of Precise End who returned from a 5 1/2-month layoff with a smashing 3 1/4-length victory in a statebred allowance race Feb. 7. Overall, Driven by Success has won three consecutive races.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Mr. Fantasy and Haynesfield, the two horses with the most early speed, won't have to look too far to find each other as they drew side by side when post positions were assigned Wednesday for Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
Mr. Fantasy, who has won his first two starts by 19 lengths, landed in post 5 while Haynesfield, who has won his last four starts by 19 1/2 lengths, will break from post 6 in the nine-horse field of 3-year-olds hoping to get on the Kentucky Derby trail.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Coming off an upset victory over Ikigai in the Grade 2 Richter Scale Handicap, How's Your Halo figured to be tough to beat against statebred company in Saturday's inaugural running of the $75,000 Sunshine State Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Instead, owner-trainer Brian Pritchard has opted to pass the seven-furlong Sunshine State to try for a more lucrative payday a week later in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Film producers John and Brad Hennegan are following up their critically acclaimed documentary "The First Saturday in May" with what they termed an "intimate portrait" of trainer Larry Jones. They began shooting the documentary last month, and expect to continue filming through the Breeders' Cup.
A release date has not yet been set for the untitled project.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday is a Grade 1 race without a clear favorite.
Fourteen horses were entered on Wednesday, with Colonel John as the lukewarm 9-2 morning-line favorite. The winner of the Travers Stakes and Santa Anita Derby last year, Colonel John is slightly lower than Cowboy Cal at 5-1, and Court Vision, Einstein, and Matto Mondo at 6-1.
Any of them could win, and so could Magnum, Blue Exit, and Champs Elysees, who have won or run well in recent starts.