Jockey Terry Houghton has taken the reins at Pinnacle Race Course's inaugural meet, winning 34 races through the first 16 days of racing. Last summer, Houghton rode at various Midwest tracks, such as Canterbury Park, Presque Isle Downs, and Indiana Downs as he was one of seven riders banned from riding in some states, including Michigan, due to an investigation into unusual betting patterns on Great Lakes Downs races in 2006.
The cast has been set for Saturday's $200,000 Evangeline Mile Handicap. A total of nine passed the entry box on Wednesday for the meeting's richest event.
Sonoma Cat will be the co-highweight on Saturday at 118 pounds along with Missed the Prom. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Sonoma Cat defeated Missed the Prom by three-quarters of a length in the $50,000 Oak Hall Stakes at Evangeline last month. In his previous start, Sonoma Cat scored at Churchill Downs in allowance company in mid-June. Asmussen has given a return call to Randall Toups.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Add Grasshopper to the lineup for the Grade 3, $300,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
Trainer Neil Howard confirmed Wednesday that the 4-year-old colt, who competed in three straight Grade 1 races, will be heading to the Jersey Shore for the 1 1/8-mile race.
Most recently, Grasshopper was a distant third, beaten 13 1/4 lengths by Commentator, in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.
"If he runs the same race as the Whitney, it should suit him well," Howard said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Regardless of the outcome of the race, Misty Ocean will play a major role in Saturday's $350,000 Del Mar Oaks.
Misty Ocean is expected to set the pace, and, judging from her form earlier this summer, it is possible that she could lead throughout the Grade 1 race over 1 1/8 miles on turf. Such a strategy worked in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Handicap at Hollywood Park over 1 1/8 miles on turf on June 7, the same distance as the Del Mar Oaks.
DEL MAR, Calif. - If it hadn't been so discouraging, it would have been comical. Whatever Storm Mesa tried to do last year as a 2-year-old filly, she failed.
She lost all three of her starts at 2. Behind the scenes, things were even worse. Storm Mesa wanted nothing to do with a starting gate, always seemed nervous, and once banged her head in her stall and needed stitches.
"There was always something she was getting herself into," trainer Bret Calhoun said.
AUBURN, Wash. - Millionaire True Metropolitan, the 122-pound highweight for Sunday's 73rd running of the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile, drew post 11 in a field of 12 at Wednesday's prerace breakfast.
While the connections of most entrants were hoping to avoid a wide post, trainer Terry Jordan was unconcerned regarding True Metropolitan's draw.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - This year's $100,000 Prelude Stakes, slated for Saturday, has had more prerace drama than the event has seen in several seasons.
The race got a shot in the arm last week when the connections of Golden Yank, second in the Grade 2 Jefferson Cup at Churchill Downs in his last start and one of the region's top 3-year-olds, committed to the 1 1/16-mile prequel to next month's Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby instead of remaining on the grass for last Saturday's Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park.
