Candy Ball's connections had to make a judgment call last week at Louisiana Downs. Their options were to run Candy Ball in a high-end optional claimer for fillies and mares at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf or against males in the $50,000 Independence.
The went for the stakes, and Candy Ball delivered with a dominant 2 3/4-length win. For the effort, she earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 92.
"She ran a big race," said Andrew Leggio, who trains Candy Ball for Rancha Fresa.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - In a fairly serious blow to the race, Forever Together was declared out of Saturday's $150,000 Modesty Handicap on Tuesday by trainer Jonathan Sheppard. So, while the Modesty may still get a field larger than average when the race is drawn Wednesday, it will go without the one starter with top-class potential in the female turf division.
AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Howard Belvoir is a straight shooter. After Wasserman had won his second straight Governor's Handicap in a thrilling four-horse photo finish, Belvoir was asked if the gelding reminded him of his former star Red Eye Express. Belvoir told it like it was.
"Naw," he said. "He doesn't compare to Red Eye."
Later, at his leisure, the trainer elaborated on his feelings for Red Eye Express, who won 22 races at Longacres in the early and mid-1970s.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Joe Move is one of the few Thoroughbreds to win his first stakes race after his first crop of foals hit the ground.
The rarity occurred on Saturday, when Joe Move pulled off a 20-1 upset in the $50,000 Lone Star Park Turf Sprint.
"He got it out of his system and won," said Richard Bird, who owns and trains Joe Move.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It didn't come in a stakes race but the most impressive performance here last weekend was delivered by Starticus, a comfortable winner of a six-furlong turf race that was timed in a track-record 1:07.39.
Owned by Danny Lococo, trained by Ralph Biamonte, and ridden by Corey Fraser, Starticus won for the third time in as many starts this season, while competing under third-level allowance conditions in Saturday's $80,000 optional claimer.
M J's Enchanteur ($5), claimed for $40,000 in January, won his fourth race since coming to trainer Scott Lake's barn and first stakes when he held off Springs Road by three-quarters of a length in the $57,750 Oh Say for 3-year-old sprinters at Delaware Park.
Trainer Bill Mott shipped a horse in from New York to win the Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap at Philadelphia Park for the second time in three years on Monday.
Sharp Susan ($5.20), following the same path that produced a win for 2-5 favorite Pommes Frites in 2006, used the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont Park as a stepping-stone to the Doc Penny.
Cody Autrey, one of the leading trainers at Lone Star Park this summer, has been fined $12,500 and suspended seven days as part of a stipulated agreement with the California Horse Racing Board for two positive tests for the banned medication guanabenz found in his starters at Del Mar last summer.
The Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and Churchill Downs Inc. have reached purse agreements for the ongoing Calder Race Course meet in Miami that will end a 2 1/2-month blackout of the track's signal at most out-of-state locations as of Thursday, the two sides said on Monday.
Racing returns for two weeks to the Solano County Fair in Vallejo, Calif., on Wednesday after last year's experiment that saw Solano transfer one week of racing to Santa Rosa.
Handle during the extra week of racing at Santa Rosa, held without the normal Sonoma County Fair attractions, held up well compared to when the fair was running.
This year there is a similar situation at the Solano County Fair, which will race its second week without the fair itself being open. The fair runs from July 9-13, and racing will continue through July 21.