OCEANPORT, N.J. - Securing the commitment from the Big Brown camp to run the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Haskell Invitational winner in the inaugural Monmouth Stakes was the first step.
Now it's up to Monmouth Park to turn Big Brown's return to the Jersey Shore into a major late-season event on Sept. 13.
It won't be an easy sell, given the time of year and the short window to promote a turf race where the purse inflates from $200,000 to $500,000, if Big Brown runs.
Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind., will begin its first Thoroughbred meet on Friday since the June opening of its new casino, which houses 2,000 slot machines and 66 multi-player electronic blackjack, three-card poker, and roulette tables manned by virtual croupiers.
Santa Anita will reopen its synthetic main track on Saturday after a seven-week renovation, and Hollywood Park will close its synthetic main track on Monday for a five-day renovation, officials at the two tracks said on Wednesday.
Since July 14, Santa Anita maintenance crews have replaced the track's Cushion Track brand synthetic surface with elements of the Pro-Ride surface from Australia. The new surface is expected to aid in drainage, which has been a persistent problem since the first synthetic surface was installed in August 2007.
Terry Houghton and Freddie Mata, one-two in the jockey standings at Pinnacle Race Course near Detroit, dominated Sunday's card, each winning three times on the eight-race program.
Houghton did even better on Tuesday, winning four races.
Houghton leads all riders with 49 wins. Mata is second with 36 wins. Gerald Bennett tops the trainer standings with 19 wins, four ahead of Bob Gorham.
* Pinnacle will have a special post of 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, an hour earlier than usual. Gates will open at noon for a Pinnacle hat giveaway to the first 1,500 fans.
Six Illinois-bred stakes Tuesday at Fairmount Park produced a mix of the predictable and the surprising, with a pair of locally based horses pulling off upsets in the route stakes for older horses after Chicago-based shippers won the 2-year-old stakes early on the card.
A special holiday Monday night program will conclude the season of racing at Evangeline Downs and will also mark the end of Jason Boulet's term as racing secretary. Boulet will soon assume the same position at Fair Grounds in preparation for the New Orleans track's mid-November opening.
"This place and I kind of grew up together," Boulet said. "I leave here with a bit of a heavy heart, but it is also a good time. Handle is up, field sizes are up, and I am fortunate to have such a great opportunity present itself at Fair Grounds."
Closing weekend festivities at Columbus begin with a 10-race card Friday night and will include stakes races on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, the conclusion of wide-open jockey and trainer races, and the start of the University of Nebraska football season.
With the Big Red kicking off the season against Western Michigan on Saturday evening in Lincoln, the Columbus Races will present the pay-per-view game in the clubhouse with free admission. There will also be $1 draft beer all four days of the final weekend.
Closing weekend at River Downs is always the biggest of the season.
Saturday's feature is the $100,000 Bassinet. Ten 2-year-old fillies were entered in the six-furlong race, including the first three finishers in the local prep that was run Aug. 10.
Yo Eleven, the winner of the prep and only two-time winner in the field, is the horse to beat. Trained by Mike Crowder, Yo Eleven was kept just off the early pace last time out and dueled through the stretch to prevail by a half-length under Julio Felix, who gets the return mount.
Confucius Say continues to defy Father Time.
A 10-year-old gelding who launched a comeback two seasons ago after missing nearly 3 1/2 years with assorted ailments, Confucius Say tuned up for a possible start in this fall's $500,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic by cruising to a wire-to-wire 3 1/2-length victory in Saturday night's $50,000 Frank Gall Memorial Handicap at Charles Town.