Kick On and Southern Yankee, who each won a 2-year-old stakes last weekend at Delta Downs, will bring significant win streaks into the richest races of the meet next month. Kick On will be seeking his fifth straight win when he starts in the Grade 3, $750,000 Delta Jackpot on Dec. 5. On the same card, Southern Yankee will look to make it four in a row in the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Princess.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It has been nearly two months since the international sports community zeroed in on Louisville because of the Ryder Cup golf matches at nearby Valhalla.
This Saturday, with a respectful nod toward that highly successful event, Churchill Downs will host a tongue-in-cheek replica, racing-style. "The Rider Cup," as Churchill is calling it, will pit American-born jockeys versus their foreign-born counterparts in a friendly competition that ultimately will raise $15,000 for charity.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There could be a change of plans for Arson Squad.
Initially scheduled to run in the Grade 2 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28, Meadowlands Cup winner Arson Squad is now under serious consideration for the Grade 1, $300,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct the following day, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said Monday.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainers hate comparisons. Is that improving colt the next Big Brown? Is that maiden sprinter who galloped home in eye-popping time the next Lost in the Fog?
In the case of trainer Bill Delia, is Be So Special the next Bai and Bai?
"I've had a couple people say she reminds them of Bai and Bai, but I don't want to say that," said Delia, who trained Bai and Bai for her first start. She went on to become a multiple stakes winner, earning $677,758. "Bai and Bai was real special."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - No, Chip Brownfield didn't have to walk all the way back to northern Kentucky after what happened Friday at Churchill Downs. But you couldn't blame his longtime girlfriend, Jamie Grubbs, for being a little upset with him.
Brownfield and Grubbs, both trainers with medium-sized stables at Turfway Park, ran horses Friday in the fifth race, a $5,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at a mile. From the start, Out Cold, with Brandon Meier riding for Grubbs, held a huge lead, and past the quarter pole her official margin on the lead was eight lengths.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last Sunday's two stakes at Woodbine shaped up as significant harbingers for the year-end Sovereign Awards.
Ginger Brew's 4 1/4-length win in the $150,000 Jammed Lovely strengthened her position in the 3-year-filly division, while Marchfield's half-length score in the $165,250 Autumn scrambled an already wide-open race for champion male on the main track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After a ninth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Oct. 24, Evita Argentina has an easier task at Hollywood Park on Sunday.
The $100,000 Moccasin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies over seven furlongs does not have championship implications like the BC Juvenile Fillies, and the distance could be more suitable for Evita Argentina.
"Maybe she's not a two-turn filly," trainer John Sadler said. "We're taking a step back."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Former jockey Herb Ollive died last Friday following a massive heart attack. He was 51.
Ollive was one of the top riders in Alberta before he retired to become a jockey agent at Hastings. Ollive had a very successful career as an agent, most notably as the agent for leading riders Chris Loseth and Dave Wilson. He also served as a steward at Hastings in 2007.
Ollive will always be associated with Pole Position, who won the 1979 British Columbia Derby with Ollive aboard carrying 130 pounds.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Close your eyes and listen to Travis Stone call a horse race, and at certain points you'd swear it was the iconic announcer Dave Johnson.
"You could say a lot worse about me," said Stone.
Stone is light years ahead of what anyone his age could rightfully expect to be. Merely being one of the five men invited this fall by Churchill Downs to try out for the vacated race-caller position would seem reward enough for a . . . 24-year-old?!?
"I get that reaction a lot," he said.
PHOENIX - Riders Carl Williams and Alberto Higuera were released from a local hospital Sunday evening after being involved in a spill at Turf Paradise Sunday.
Williams, 44, suffered a bruised left leg while Higuera, 51, sustained a broken collarbone, according to track officials. The spill occured in the ninth and final race on the Sunday card when Williams's mount, LS Sunrise, suffered a fatal aneurism and collapsed turning for home. Arizona Twist, ridden by Higuera, was unable to avoid the fallen horse and went down. Arizona Twist was unhurt.
