BOSSIER CITY, La. - With the arrival of August and the dog days of summer, thoughts around Louisiana Downs move forward toward the meeting's highlight, the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby in late September.
The first step to the Super Derby is the Prelude Stakes on Aug. 15. There will be $100,000 in purse money in the Prelude, and the winner will receive an all-fees-paid berth in the Super Derby.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Poor Azul Leon. Unbeaten in two starts and bound for Sunday's $150,000 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar, he is already one of the best 2-year-olds in California this summer.
And, he only needs to win six more consecutive races this year to keep pace with the best horse owned by his owner and breeder, Joseph LaCombe.
When a stable is best known for campaigning Favorite Trick, the 1997 Horse of the Year as a 2-year-old, standards are pretty high. Such success also provides a dose of realism.
DEL MAR, Calif. - After Mr Napper Tandy finished fourth in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 19, trainer Jack Carava kicked around starting the colt in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 24.
The idea was abandoned this week when an optional $100,000 claimer over a mile was offered on Friday's eight-race program.
"His last race was a good race, but it's time to win a race," Carava said.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Ten names were on the list of pre-entries taken last Friday for the 26th Arlington Million, but only eight came out of the box when final entries were taken early Wednesday afternoon in the Starting Gate Theater at Arlington Park. Two pre-entered horses, Cosmonaut and Out of Control, both are staying home in New York, but the other eight make an appealing lot, with English shipper and world traveler Archipenko installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite by Arlington oddsmaker Joe Kristufek.
The Maryland Jockey Club has canceled its only graded stakes races - the Grade 1 Frank J. De Francis Dash and the Grade 3 Safely Kept Stakes - during the 17-week Laurel Park meet that begins Sept. 3. The company also announced Wednesday that it will close Pimlico Race Course for training beginning at the end of August.
The late Dorothy Scharbauer, who co-owned Alysheba, the 1988 Horse of the Year, is one of four owners and breeders who will be inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Retama Park near San Antonio on Oct. 4. The other inductees are Bill Allen, Bobby D. Cox, and Joe Straus Jr.
Allen led the Black Chip Stables partnership that raced Wild Again, upset winner of the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic in 1984. He has long ties to Texas, and put together the current management team at Retama.
Kip Deville, the winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Mile, is once again a hero in his home state of Oklahoma. For the second straight year he has been named horse of the year by the Oklahoma Thoroughbred Association. The honor was announced during the OTA's annual awards banquet at Remington Park last Saturday.
State steward Jim Haberlan suffered a heart attack after the races last Saturday and will likely be excused from his duties for the remainder of the Nebraska season, which runs through Sept. 13.
Haberlan was admitted to Columbus Community Hospital following the races that night and was transported by helicopter to a Lincoln facility the following day. He had two stents implanted and was scheduled to be released on Friday. Former steward Quient Schaffer is filling in for Haberlan in the interim.