ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Nick Gonzalez's barn, already responsible for a meet-leading eight stakes winners here at Woodbine, will have three shots at adding to that total Saturday.
In the $150,000 Ontario Debutante, a six-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies, the stable will be represented by a pair of new faces in Back to Therapy and After the Applause.
In the $100,000 Belle Mahone, a 1 1/16-mile overnight stakes, My List will be looking for her third stakes win of the season.
MIAMI - Paco Lopez is the leading rider at Calder and among the top contenders for an Eclipse Award as the outstanding apprentice jockey in 2008. But Lopez's chances of attaining those goals were put in jeopardy earlier this month when he received a 30-day suspension from the Calder stewards for his ride aboard Awesome Alexandra in the Ema Bovary Stakes here on Aug. 3.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington Million day produced solid financial results for Arlington Park, but the meet as a whole, mirroring national trends, has suffered a downturn this season in local betting.
Arlington handled $2,944,566 ontrack last Saturday, down about 4 percent from 2007, while total all-sources handle on the 12-race card was $16,733,202, down more than 2 percent from $17,122,560 in 2007. Attendance on Million Day fell slightly, from 32,055 to 31,463.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The second half of the Woodbine meeting is just beginning, but it would appear that trainer Will Armata is well on his way to clinching the unofficial "rookie of the year" award.
Armata, 26, took out his trainer's license on April 23 and won his first race one week later, with his second starter, Astera, who he owns under his nom du course of All Day Racing Stable.
Heading into Thursday's card Armata had won with 8 of 37 starters at Woodbine and 4 of 14 at Fort Erie, the latest being Sunday Prince in a $10,000 maiden claimer there Monday.
Golden Yank was on the verge of shipping to Arlington Park for last weekend's Grade 1 Secretariat, but trainer Gary Thomas changed plans and instead intends to send the horse to Louisiana Downs for the $100,000 Prelude Breeders' Cup on Saturday. The 1 1/16-mile race offers its winner a fees-paid berth into the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - What Dancing Forever has accomplished at age 5 is a testament to the perseverance and patience of his trainer, Shug McGaughey.
That Dancing Forever even exists is due in large part to the persistence of his owner and breeder, Ogden Phipps, the skill of several doctors in Pennsylvania, and the tender, loving care given the horse's mother by a married couple who run a rehabilitation farm in Kentucky.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Storm Mesa won the prep race, the San Clemente Handicap. Satan's Circus was second in the American Oaks. And Lethal Heat is being wheeled right back after a win against the boys on Friday in the Real Good Deal Stakes.
The leading contenders for the Grade 1, $350,000 Del Mar Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday are fairly well established. But there is a mystery horse whom trainer John Shirreffs is hoping stacks up with them.
Two barns at Calder Race Course were placed under restriction on Tuesday for precautionary reasons after a horse died from unknown causes the previous afternoon.
According to track officials, remains from the deceased horse were sent to the state lab at the University of Florida in Gainesville to determine the cause of death. Results from those tests were expected to be made available on Wednesday morning.
