AUBURN, Wash. - The nine-furlong Mt. Rainier Handicap at Emerald Downs has produced the last two winners of the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile in Flamethrowintexan and The Great Face. In the wake of last Sunday's result, it would appear that the Mt. Rainier has a double-barreled shot at producing the Mile winner for a third straight year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Midwest invader Palanka City first learned about life in the big city the hard way. She was scratched out of Belmont Park's Prioress Stakes earlier this month after failing to appear in the race-day security barn by the assigned time on the morning of the event.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Mabee? Mabee not? That was the question trainer John Sadler faced with Black Mamba: whether to remain here for the Grade 1, $400,000 John C. Mabee Handicap on Sunday, or ship to Arlington Park for the Grade 1, $750,000 Beverly D. at 1 3/16 miles on Aug. 9.
In the end, Sadler decided to stay put. Black Mamba, coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 29, will run in the Mabee. She will be the starting highweight at 119 pounds against a handful of rivals in the 1 1/8-mile race for female turf runners.
Z Fortune will try to continue trainer Steve Asmussen's recent dominance in the West Virginia Derby when he faces 11 other 3-year-olds, including Illinois Derby winner Recapturetheglory and Ohio Derby runner-up Cherokee Artist, in Saturday's Grade 3, $750,000 race at Mountaineer Racetrack.
The 1 1/8-mile West Virginia Derby headlines an all-stakes nine-race card that has a special 2 p.m. Eastern first post time. The feature race will be part of an ESPN broadcast from 5 to 6 p.m.
Superior Storm has never been beaten in a Louisiana-bred stakes. Saturday, she will bid for her sixth such win when she starts in the $100,000 Louisiana Breeders' Oaks. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies is one of eight divisional stakes for statebreds on the annual Louisiana Downs Champions Day program. Purses for the stakes total $750,000.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Bret Calhoun was at Lone Star Park on Tuesday morning, overseeing an exodus of horses he trains that are shipping from Lone Star, which just wrapped up its season and is closing its stable area, to Retama, Remington, and Churchill. But the Calhoun barn was even more far-flung than that this past weekend, capturing the San Clemente at Del Mar with the excellent 3-year-old filly Storm Mesa and sending out Mr. Nightlinger to a highly impressive 3 1/4-length victory here at Arlington in the $54,000 Taylor's Special.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Less than 24 hours after Commentator and Ginger Punch stole the show here Saturday, winning the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap and Grade 1 Go for Wand Handicap, respective trainers Nick Zito and Bobby Frankel began thinking of the future - and the uncertainties their horses might face if they are pointed for the Breeders' Cup, which will be run for the first time over a synthetic surface at Santa Anita in October.
Seven European challengers for the three Grade 1 races at Arlington Park on Aug. 9 were confirmed by the International Racing Bureau on Monday. They will be headed by two from the white-hot Ballydoyle yard of trainer Aidan O'Brien, who will send over Mount Nelson for the Arlington Million and Plan for the Secretariat Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Larry Jones won Monday's $150,000 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga with Kodiak Kowboy, but took very little of the credit for his colt's hard-fought head decision over a courageous Desert Key in the Grade 2 sprint for 3-year-olds.
Kodiak Kowboy was transferred from trainer Steve Asmussen to Jones's barn at Fair Hill, Md., earlier this month. Kodiak Kowboy, who is owned by the Vinery Stable and Fox Hill Farm, had not started since finishing second behind Macho Again in the Derby Trial on April 26.
Peppers Pride's bid for history will have to wait.
Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico was forced to cancel its entire card on Sunday after being hit with seven inches of rain as part of the Hurricane Dolly storm system. Peppers Pride was to have run in the $55,000 Lincoln Handicap, a race in which she was attempting to win her 17th straight race and set a modern record for consecutive wins by a Thoroughbred. Her next start is to be determined, said her trainer, Joel Marr.
"I'm not making any plans today," he said Sunday.
