CALGARY, Alberta The inclement weather that has hounded this spring session returned Thursday morning. Hopefully, the upcoming holiday weekend, when two stakes races will be run, will have more favorable conditions.
Saturdays $50,000 Teeworth Plate is coming up strong with Albertas 2007 horse of the year, Footprint, pointing for the one-mile race for older horses.
Owner, breeder, and trainer Sparky Mullins could be sitting on a big Sunday night at Remington Park with contenders in the Grade 1, $102,960 Bank of America Oklahoma Challenge and the Grade 3, $42,930 Merial Oklahoma Distaff Challenge, two of three Challenge stakes on the card.
Also on the program is the Gradeo3, $43,560 Red Cell Distance Challenge at 870 yards.
LINCOLN Neb. - Three-year-old fillies will open up the stakes schedule at the Lincoln State Fair on Sunday when a field of six goes postward in the $15,000 Princess Stakes.
Preciousville was claimed by owner Craig Wulf and trainer Dan Coughlin at Fair Grounds on Feb. 10 for $12,500 and quickly returned a good portion of her purchase price by rallying to win the Pepsi Stakes at Fonner Park on April 5, her first start for her new connections. She should be favored to continue her three-race win streak in this six-furlong stakes. Luis Ranilla has a return ride.
Prominent out-of-town riders Joe Bravo and Anna Napravnik scored victories on front-runners in Thursday night's co-featured $75,000 stakes for 3-year-old Pennsylvania-breds at Penn National Race Course.
Bravo was aboard Reata's Quik Punch ($4.20), who cruised to a 4 1/2-length win over Extra Sexy Psychic in the Wonders Delight for fillies.
Aqueduct posted gains in attendance and handle for the 80-day winter/spring meet that ran from Jan. 1 through April 27, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
With five more racing days than the corresponding period in 2007, daily average attendance rose 5.7 percent from 2,610 to 2,760. Total attendance jumped 12.8 percent from 195,748 to 220,793.
Daily average ontrack handle increased 4.3 percent from $602,659 to $628,295 with the total growing 11.2 percent from $45,199,421 to $50,263,568.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Abraham Katryan's Woodbine barn has a new look this season.
Katryan, 51, has been training since 1997 and this will be his first campaign in which owner Bruno Schickedanz is not a client.
Schickedanz, whose horses accounted for 15 of Katryan's 42 winners last year, has consolidated his stock here with trainer Mark Fournier.
"Bruno gave me a great start," said Katryan. "I wish him all the best."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Pat Jarvis is hoping to pull off a small upset with Pat of Gold in the $50,000 Brighouse Belles at Hastings on Saturday.
Although Pat of Gold has technically never won a stakes race, she certainly belongs in the Brighouse Belles. A 4-year-old filly by Regal Remark, Pat of Gold closed out her 3-year-old year with a couple of strong performances just seven days apart.
ELMONT, N.Y. - In the summer of 2005, Linda Rice had high hopes for a 2-year-old she had purchased at auction for a reasonable $70,000. But a few months later, that same horse lay in a New Jersey equine hospital getting treated for a rare heart ailment.
Doctors at that clinic thought it unlikely that Executive Fleet would ever make it to the races. A month ago, Executive Fleet came within a half-length of winning the Grade 1 Carter Handicap. On Saturday, Executive Fleet could be favored to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Shamdinan, the runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Turf last fall, was one of the eight nominees for Saturday's $250,000 Jim Murray Handicap at Hollywood Park. But instead of running him in that Grade 2 race over 1 1/2 miles on turf, trainer Doug O'Neill has opted for a $70,000 allowance race over a mile on turf later on Saturday's program.
O'Neill hopes to give Shamdinan a confidence boost after disappointing ninth- and seven-place finishes in graded stakes at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita earlier this year.