ELMONT, N.Y. - Ginger Punch, who ran a close second in last year's Ogden Phipps Handicap at odds of 7-2, was assigned top weight of 123 pounds by New York Racing Association racing secretary P.J. Campo and figures to be odds-on when the Grade 1, $300,000 Phipps is run for the 40th time on Saturday at Belmont Park.
"She's going to run," said trainer Bobby Frankel, who won back-to-back runnings of the 1 1/16-mile Phipps with Sightseek in 2003-04.
A record New York pick six pool of $4,404,280 was divided up Wednesday by 29 winners, each worth $103,754. All of the winning tickets were bought offtrack.
A carryover of $1,186,625 resulted when the $1 million-guaranteed pick six was not hit on Belmont Stakes Day, and an additional $3,217,655 was bet when racing resumed Wednesday following three dark days.
The board of directors of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association has approved a measure that will raise the mount fee to $100 for Philadelphia Park jockeys who ride horses who do not finish in the top three finishing positions, according to representatives of horsemen and riders.
The board approved the new mount fee on Wednesday.
Philadelphia jockeys who rode horses who finished fourth or worse had previously been paid on a scale that started at $55 and ended at $80, according to the purse of the race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - On the Acorn, winner of the Grade 2 Jim Murray Handicap last month, has been taken out of training after swelling developed in one his ankles earlier this week, trainer Mike Mitchell said.
The injury is not considered serious, but will prevent On the Acorn from starting in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on June 28, Mitchell said.
"He had a little filling that showed up in his leg," Mitchell said. "We're looking at it right now. We might have to give him some time."
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Golden Yank tried turf for the first time last out. He liked it, and on Saturday he will stay on the grass for the Grade 2, $200,000 Jefferson Cup for 3-year-olds at Churchill Downs.
Golden Yank was scheduled to van out of his Lone Star Park base on Thursday for the 1 1/8-mile turf race, according to his trainer, Gary Thomas. Jamie Theriot has the mount.
Cape Time ($2.60) won Sunday's $50,000 SunRay Park and Casino Handicap by a length. The victory in the one-mile race was the first in a stakes for Cape Time. Ken Tohill rode Cap Time for trainer Chris Hartman and Black Hawk Stable.
Alfredo Juarez Jr., aboard runner-up Lord Gallop, lodged an objection against the winner for interference, but it was quickly dismissed. Cape Time ran the mile in 1:37.33.
Cape Time had been racing at Lone Star, where he was recently second in the $50,000 Grand Prairie Turf Challenge.
Ack Magical will defend his title against Chief Tudor, a four-time winner of the event, in the $35,000 Magic City Classic for Alabama-breds at River Downs on Saturday. Ack Magical won the one-mile Magic City in November when it was run at Turfway Park.
Ack Magical has not finished better than fourth in his three starts since winning the Magic City, and comes off a ninth-place finish in a Churchill Downs allowance. Ack Magical is trained by Bill Hicks and will be ridden by Rodney Prescott, who was aboard in the Magic City at Turfway.
Jockey Channing Hill, based in New York, took his annual working vacation back to the Midwest earlier in the week. With Belmont dark Sunday through Tuesday, Hill flew to Des Moines, Iowa, to visit family and friends, and brought his tack along with him.
He rode at Prairie Meadows on Monday and Tuesday, and won with the second mount of his abbreviated stay aboard Miss Del Gallo in Monday's fifth race.
Funeral services for former rider Newil Wall were held Wednesday afternoon at Curran Funeral Home in Grand Island, Neb. Wall, 61, was diagnosed with lung cancer in January.
Following an unsuccessful surgery in April, Wall was again hospitalized in late May and died on June 7.
A moment of silence was observed at Lincoln on June 7, with the jockey colony gathering in the winner's circle. Fundraisers for the family have been ongoing in both Grand Island and Lincoln this month. Wall is survived by a wife, Cheri, and three sons and two daughters.
Jockey Sylvia Harris climbed a mountain just to win one race last year in Chicago. Now, she is winning fairly regularly on the other end of Illinois.
Based at Fairmount Park near St. Louis this season, Harris booted home her 11th winner of the meet when she guided Coach Elbe There to victory on Tuesday.
Harris, 41, received much national attention last year. Not only is she the rare African-American woman to actually become a practicing jockey, she got started at a late age, and has had to deal with bipolar disorder since early adulthood.