DEL MAR, Calif.-Kilderry and Dixie Chatter won divisions of the Oceanside Stakes on Wednesday's opening day program at Del Mar.
Dixie Chatter, best known for winning the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes last September, won his first start on turf in the $86,800 second division of the Oceanside.
Sam Houston Race Park in Houston drew 70,000 patrons from July 3-6 for a combination of Quarter Horse racing, fireworks, and concerts led by Willie Nelson's Family Picnic. The track's attendance for racing and a fireworks program on the Fourth of July topped 32,000, up 15 percent from 2007.
Lincoln State Fair closed out its season last Sunday with handle gains across the board on its live racing, bucking a nationwide downward trend.
Nebraska racing is showing signs of a comeback, said Mike Newlin, finishing his first year as director of racing at Lincoln. With the increases that Fonner and State Fair Park have shown with our live meets this year, I think Nebraskans are proving that they still love racing and that if we put on a good show at an economical price they will return.
Canterbury Park will be buzzing with activity over the next few weeks as final preparations are made for the dedication of the racetrack chapel building that is scheduled for July 27. Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day will be the guest speaker at the final fundraising dinner for the event, which will be held after the conclusion of the races that day. Tickets for the dinner are available from track chaplain Tommy Bartram at $50 per plate.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ginger Brew, who had been under consideration for the upcoming Wonder Where or Breeders' Stakes, instead is freshening up on the farm and will be pointed for a late summer-fall campaign.
Owned by Stronach Stable, Ginger Brew won the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks here June 8 and swung back two weeks later to finish a hard-fought second behind Not Bourbon in the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate.
"The Plate took its toll; it was a hard race," said trainer Brian Lynch. "We brought her to the farm after for a little break."
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - There are stakes plans in the works for a number of recent 2-year-old winners at Lone Star Park, including Early Final, who captured a division of the $125,000 Texas Stallion Stakes on Saturday, and Morethanafantasy, an impressive turf winner who could see action next at Louisiana Downs.
Early Final stalked and pounced for a 2 1/4-length win in the 5 1/2-furlong colts and geldings division of the Texas Stallion Stakes, earning a career-best Beyer Figure of 77.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Off his sharp win in the Arlington Handicap, Stream Cat is a nice prospect for the Arlington Million. Einstein dances every dance, and is one of the more admirable horses in American racing, and there's a good chance he shows up at Arlington on Million Day. But Archipenko, a likely Million participant in the wake of his win at Ascot in England on Saturday, is a horse of a different color, a rising star on the international circuit.
MIAMI - Be it ever so humble, for the Grade 2-winning 3-year-old Smooth Air, there is no place like home.
Home for Smooth Air is Calder Race Course, a track neither Smooth Air nor his trainer, Bennie Stutts Jr., has seen much of since the pair first set out on the road in late April for Churchill Downs and a run at the Kentucky Derby. Now, Smooth Air is back at Calder for the first time since the middle of May.
ELMONT, N.Y. - While the racing world awaits word on what's next for Curlin, plans have been made for the horse that beat him in last Saturday's Grade 1 Man o' War at Belmont Park.
Red Rocks, who shipped in from trainer Brian Meehan's stable in England to beat Curlin by two lengths, will remain in North America for the rest of the year with trainer Mark Hennig. Red Rocks is being pointed to the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga on Aug. 16.
"That seems like a logical spot, good spacing," Hennig said Wednesday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Outfitted in everything from elegant hats to tattered cutoffs, fans began their annual pilgrimage to Del Mar for this track's 43-day summer season, which began on Wednesday. The sun was out, the 77-degree weather could not have been more ideal, and Del Mar tried to make everyone not here realize what they were missing by training a pan camera on the nearby beach more than an hour before the first race.
