MIAMI - Just about everybody is joining the Annabill fan club this summer at Calder. Everybody, that is, except maybe Cat Can Do and her trainer, Ralph Ziadie.
Annabill has dominated the filly and mare handicap division during the current session, having posted four consecutive victories, including a pair of stakes tallies. All four of her wins have come at the expense of Cat Can Do, who has finished second twice and third twice in her four meetings with the division leader.
A quarantine on Barn 38 at Belmont Park has been lifted after tests conducted on a horse who died in that barn over the weekend did not come back positive for equine herpesvirus, track officials announced Tuesday.
Horses entered for Wednesday's card who were stabled in that barn will be allowed to race.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Music Note might be a city girl at heart.
Music Note returned downstate last week and has reinforced her connections' belief that she prefers Belmont Park to Saratoga. On Monday, Music Note worked a strong five furlongs in 59.84 seconds in preparation for a start in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Gazelle Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario Trainer Reade Baker, who got his first official taste of Breeders Cup racing last year at Monmouth Park, hopes to be back for a double helping at Santa Anita this fall with Bear Now and Fatal Bullet.
Bear Now, a 4-year-old who finished eighth in last years Breeders Cup Distaff in the slop at Monmouth, is looking to return in this years edition of the 1 1/8-mile race, which will be run Oct. 24 as the Breeders Cup Ladies Classic.
MIAMI - For all the outstanding performances on Saturday's Juvenile Showcase program, the feel-good story of the afternoon was undoubtedly Aroma de Mujer's upset victory over 3-5 favorite La Chica Sensual in the Susan's Girl Stakes.
Not only was Aroma de Mujer a maiden coming into the middle leg of the filly division of the Florida Stallion Stakes series, she also gave her 72-year-old trainer, Walter Rosas-Canessa, the first Stallion series victory of his 33-year training career.
Ide Like a Double will miss the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 20 with a minor physical setback, trainer B.J. Gilbert said Tuesday. The horse had been pointing for the 1 1/8-mile race since defeating older horses in track-record time in the $200,000 Evangeline Mile at Evangeline Downs on Aug. 16.
"He's got a nagging shin on him," Gilbert said. "We thought it's time to stop and heal that properly."
AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Tim McCanna whizzed by his own record of 55 wins at a single Emerald Downs meeting about two weeks ago, tying the mark with Especially Capable and breaking it with News Alert on Aug. 30. That in itself was not shocking, since McCanna has dominated the trainer standings at Emerald since the track's second season in 1997. With 59 wins to second-leading trainer Frank Lucarelli's 37 and only 12 days of racing remaining at the meet, his eighth Emerald training title is assured.
POMONA, Calif. - Unscheduled left-hand turns by two maiden fillies in the fourth race Friday, opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meet at Fairplex Park, completely altered the complexion of the 16-day race meet.
Jockey Tyler Baze and apprentice Michael Martinez were not seriously injured when they were unseated, but both are sidelined indefinitely with body soreness. Baze is out until at least Sept. 20; his absence has the biggest impact. Baze, the third-leading rider at Del Mar, was expected to challenge Fairplex kingpin Martin Pedroza for the 2008 riding title.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's Woodbine Mile had been billed as a showdown between New York shippers Kip Deville and Ventura, an opinion that was not disputed even by the connections of the six local contestants.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the finish line of the $1,078,200 Woodbine Mile, which was run over a yielding turf course.