Golden Yank has been cross-entered in two of Zia Park's biggest weekend stakes, the $150,000 Derby and the $200,000 Distance Championship, but on Thursday trainer Gary Thomas said the plan is to run Saturday in the Zia Park Derby. The appeal is that the 1 1/16-mile race is Golden Yank's last opportunity to compete with straight 3-year-olds.
"This is it," Thomas said. "I don't think we can let the derby go by, for sure."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Corey Nakatani is nearing a comeback after spending most of the past two months waiting for his collarbone to heal. Nakatani has not ridden since Sept. 24, when he was injured after his mount Easy on the Eye clipped heels at the start of the Grade 3 Morvich Handicap on the downhill course at Santa Anita.
"I couldn't tell you how many times I have broken my collarbone," Nakatani said early this week after exercising horses at Santa Anita. He starting working horses Sunday and is expected to resume riding within the next two weeks.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bob Tiller's next win was bound to be a memorable one in any case, but the trainer showed a flair for the dramatic here Wednesday evening.
Entering the card with just two starters and one win shy of the 1,500 career mark, Tiller reached the milestone with Dancer's Bajan in the $125,800 Sir Barton Stakes.
"Absolutely it was appropriate to do it in a stakes race," said Tiller, who has been training since 1972 and was to celebrate his 59th birthday on Friday. "He's a good horse - a horse with heart and desire and class. He wants to win."
Dancer's Bajan ($7.40) wore down Archers Alyancer and Sand Cove in the final strides to take the $125,800 Sir Barton Stakes Wednesday night at Woodbine. The win was the 1,500th of trainer Bob Tiller's career.
Sand Cove, the even-money favorite, set moderate fractions on an uncontested lead in the 1 1/16-mile event for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward.
Dancer's Bajan stalked three wide throughout and took dead aim at Sand Cove and Archer's Alyancer at the eighth pole before inching by to score by a half-length in a time of 1:43.60.
Champion Ketel Won will defend his title in Sunday's Grade 1, $175,000 Zia Park Quarter Horse Championship when he faces Mr Perry Dash, who defeated him in their most recent meeting.
A year ago, Ketel Won scored his first Grade 1 win when he pulled away to a half-length victory in the Zia Park Championship. He then won the Grade 1, $400,000 The Championship at Sunland Park, securing the 2007 champion aged horse and champion aged stallion titles.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Several times in the last year, Black Mamba has closed furiously through the stretch of major turf stakes for fillies and mares, always tipping that races were not long enough to suit her style.
Sometimes she won, as was the case in the Grade 2 Beverly Hills and Grade 1 John Mabee handicaps during the summer, and sometimes she lost, as in a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes in September.
Trainer John Sadler has found a solution to the distance issue - Saturday's $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne in the winter is no place and time to have a promising grass horse, one reason why 2-year-old Proceed Bee went back to trainer Terry Gestes at Fairmount Park rather than coming to Chicago following his upset win last Saturday in the Grand Canyon Stakes at Churchill Downs.
But Proceed Bee is destined for Oaklawn Park this winter, a venue without turf racing at all, and his connections are hopeful that it was a stretch from sprints to a route distance, as much as a move to turf, that propelled Proceed Bee to a 22-1 upset in the Grand Canyon.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It's fair to say that the current Woodbine meeting has had more than its share of ups and downs for trainer Alec Fehr.
Fehr, 41, began the season with seemingly solid Queen's Plate prospects in Niagara Thunder and Sebastian's Song, both owned by Centennial Farms (Niagara) Inc.
But Niagara Thunder was sidelined by an ankle injury, and Sebastian's Song, while he did make the Queen's Plate, failed to stay the trip.
Then, this past summer, Fehr and Centennial Farms went their separate ways.
Illinois-based trainer Chris Block has in recent years made a habit of transferring turf horses to Fair Grounds-based trainers for the winter. Block basically remains year-round in Chicago, and come November, he has freely sent south grass horses in his care not in need of a winter freshening.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The finish of the Grade 1 Matriarch on Sunday at Hollywood Park was not exactly what trainer Bobby Frankel hoped for - veteran mare Precious Kitten and upstart 3-year-old filly Visit finishing two-three behind the sensational Cocoa Beach.
But the race did clear up one uncertainty. Despite the retirement of Precious Kitten, Frankel will be rock solid in the 2009 female turf division.
"Visit ran great - I'm expecting a lot from her next year," Frankel said.