ELMONT, N.Y. - Despite running just three horses in the Breeders' Cup the last five years, trainer Shug McGaughey's nine wins still rank him second in the history of the event.
This year, McGaughey is expected to have four chances to add to his total. As of Saturday, McGaughey was hoping to run Carriage Trail in the Ladies' Classic, Consequence in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Persistently in the Juvenile Fillies, and Dancing Forever in the Turf.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Mast Track, winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup in June, will start in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 25 and not the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on the same day, trainer Bobby Frankel said Saturday.
Frankel said the entries and starting fees of the two races and the distances were the main factors in his decision.
"I don't want to put up $100,000 to run in the Classic," he said.
Frankel owns Mast Track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park and the Thoroughbred Owners of California reached an agreement in principle Friday on a horsemen's contract, a wide-ranging document that includes the purse structure for the track's upcoming fall meeting from Oct. 29 through Dec. 21.
ARCADIA, Calif. - On a national stage later this month, trainer Ron Ellis is hoping to prove that the 2-year-old colt Believe in Hope is better than his third-place finish in the Norfolk Stakes on Sept. 28.
Believe in Hope is a candidate for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Oct. 25. Should he run well in that race, Believe in Hope will get plenty of attention. The BC Juvenile is annually one of the most talked-about races on the Breeders' Cup program because of its ramifications for the Triple Crown the following spring.
Tiz Now Tiz Then, the winner of the Iowa Derby, could be headed to Oklahoma. Trainer Eoin Harty on Friday said he was looking into travel arrangements for the horse who is a candidate for the $350,000 Oklahoma Derby next Sunday at Remington Park.
Its a pretty good possibility, for sure, said Harty, who characterized Tiz Now Tiz Then as a 75 percent go for the race as of Friday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jamie Theriot could not have scripted it better. Laying a perfect third behind a pair of dueling leaders for most of the way, Theriot guided Sly Storm to a neck victory Friday before a sunsplashed crowd in the $112,200 Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva is in the midst of his best meeting to date at Woodbine with 75 wins, more than $4.5 million in purse winnings, and a dozen stakes victories to his credit heading into Friday's program.
But da Silva will sacrifice some business here over the next couple of weeks when he turns his attention to Santa Anita and the Breeders' Cup races on Oct. 24-25.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Five years ago, behind the customer service desk at Woodbine, a young, slim 19-year-old assisted patrons and answered questions.
A few knowledgeable patrons, noting his size, wondered why he had not considered becoming a jockey.
Cory Spataro, who stood 5 feet 7 inches and weighed 110 pounds, had never ridden a Thoroughbred in his life, and in fact, had never had any contact with horses.
"I thought about what my customers had suggested and finally decided to learn more about horses," said Spataro.
STICKNEY, Ill. - When Dawn Raider came back after being passed in the stretch and won a $35,000 turf claimer on Sept. 11 at Arlington Park, it seemed to loudly announce the return of trainer Jamie Ness to the Chicago circuit. Ness, a regular at Canterbury and Tampa Bay, stabled at Hawthorne for the first time last fall and won a slew of races at the meet. When Dawn Raider and a couple of his other Arlington entrants ran well, it seemed like Ness was gearing up for another big Hawthorne fall.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Management at Hastings had good intentions when they changed the conditions of Sunday's $100,000 Premiers from a handicap to an allowance stakes. The main reason for the change was that they were sensitive to the fact that True Metropolitan carried 129 pounds when he lost by a neck to Sir Gallovic in last year's Premiers. Nonetheless, their good intentions clearly didn't turn out the way they planned.