Tue, 11/04/2008 - 00:00

Injury forces My List to retire from racing

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Nick Gonzalez stable will be losing one of its most productive and popular members as My List has been injured and forced into retirement.

"She'll stay here a month and then go to Three Chimneys in Kentucky," said Gonzalez, who has trained My List throughout her career.

"She's been entered in the January mixed sale at Keeneland."

My List, bred in Kentucky, was purchased for $1,200 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Sale in October 2005.

Tue, 11/04/2008 - 00:00

Peppers Pride to test streak

Peppers Pride came into the Zia Park meet with two objectives. The first was to set a modern North American record for consecutive wins. She checked that off her list last month, when she won her 17th straight race in a $35,000 optional claiming allowance Oct. 4.

Tue, 11/04/2008 - 00:00

Maker keeps adding to breakout season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The list of D. Wayne Lukas former assistants with major training accomplishments already includes such standouts as Todd Pletcher, Kiaran McLaughlin, Mark Hennig, and Dallas Stewart.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Hastings handle remains steady

Live handle from all sources at Hastings in 2008 was almost identical to 2007. Total live handle this year was $49,716,774 compared with $49,724,506 in 2007.

There were three more days in 2008, which corresponds to a 4 percent drop in the daily average. The average daily handle in 2008 was $700,236 compared with $731,242 a year ago.

Ontrack business was off 7 percent, $16,647,925 compared with $17,893,203. The daily average of $234,479 was down 11 percent.

The daily purse distribution went up 20 percent from $92,234 in 2007 to $110,818 in 2008.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Neuman makes good impression

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If the next four race-callers perform as smoothly and proficiently as Bobby Neuman did last week, Churchill Downs officials will have a difficult decision next month when naming a new caller.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Duggan intends to aim high

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There were two shippers for Sunday's six-furlong Ontario Fashion at Woodbine, and Miss Macy Sue, the more accomplished of the pair with 11 wins and earnings of $867,230, caught the public's eye as the 8-5 choice.

But it was Porte Bonheur, a 3-year-old filly trained by David Duggan in New York, who stole the spotlight in the $163,500 Ontario Fashion with an emphatic 1 1/2-length score under rider Channing Hill.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Janks wins three stakes, but that's not all

STICKNEY, Ill. - It's almost hard to know where to begin. Let's just say that the trainer Christine Janks had a remarkable Saturday at Hawthorne.

The most obvious fact is that Janks-trained horses won three of the six Illinois-bred stakes races, a rare feat on its own. But in the last two of those triumphs, Janks actually sent out the exacta, with Nicks beating Pretty Jenny in the Powerless Handicap, and Stop a Train holding off Modjadji in the Illini Princess, the afternoon's final stakes.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Romans triple just a start

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Winning three races on a Stars of Tomorrow program at Churchill Downs not only means a trainer is having a good fall, but also that he's likely to have a good winter and spring. So when Dale Romans won three races Saturday, it wasn't difficult for him to add 2 and 2.

"It means I've got a lot to look forward to," he said with a grin.

Romans won maiden races with Glacken Queen and Jazzandthemagician, then topped off a memorable afternoon when Sara Louise won the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes with authority. All 11 races Saturday were restricted to 2-year-olds.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Big plans for Break Water Edison

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Grade 3 Nashua Stakes for juvenile colts is usually a stepping-stone to the Grade 2 Remsen run at Aqueduct the last weekend of November. Trainer John Kimmel, who won Sunday's Nashua with Break Water Edison, is looking more long-term with his colt.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 00:00

Be So Special figures key to pick-six carryover

ALBANY, Calif. - There is a modest two-day pick-six carryover of $14,056 to open the week's racing Wednesday.

The first leg of Wednesday's pick six also serves as the day's feature, a one-mile $40,000 starter allowance for 2-year-old fillies on the Tapeta. It also could be a free space in the pick six, with trainer Bill Delia entering Be So Special, who has a win, 2 seconds, and a third in 4 career starts.