LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As if 12 stakes, all but one of them graded, weren't good enough, Churchill Downs racing officials are looking to beef up the Kentucky Oaks and Derby cards next weekend by increasing the purses for all allowance and maiden races on those two programs.
Churchill racing secretary Ben Huffman said the undercard is being "supercharged" by bumping purses for overnight races by 25 percent.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though most of his success has come in two-turn races, Grasshopper will cut back to a one-turn mile when he ships here from Kentucky for Wednesday's Grade 3, $100,000 Westchester Handicap, the opening day feature at Belmont Park.
Grasshopper, trained by Neil Howard, first gained notoriety when he came within a half-length of Street Sense in last summer's 1 1/4-mile Travers at Saratoga. Thereafter, he finished second in the Super Derby at nine furlongs, won the Mineshaft at 1 1/16 miles, and was beaten a neck in the New Orleans Handicap at 1 1/8 miles.
Nine-time national champion owner Dr. Ed Allred, who also owns and operates Los Alamitos Race Course, has bought a 50 percent interest in the promising 2-year-old Foose for an undisclosed sum.
Trainer Paul Jones retains the other half of his homebred colt.
Foose raced to the fastest 300 yards ever by a first-time-starting juvenile at Los Alamitos last Saturday night, when he won his maiden in 15.19 seconds by 3 1/2 lengths. It was the third-fastest time ever by a juvenile at Los Alamitos, surpassed by champions Hawkish and Jess You And I.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two of the more prominent contenders for the 134th Kentucky Oaks were out for serious work Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs as speculation continued about the prospective field.
Golden Doc A and Bsharpsonata, both with their scheduled Oaks jockeys aboard, breezed five furlongs over a fast track, finishing in 59.00 and 59.80 seconds, respectively.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting began on Wednesday with a touch of drama.
In the first race of the meeting, Seismometer, the 7-5 favorite, won a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds at 4 1/2 furlongs, but was disqualified and placed last in the field of five for causing interference shortly after the start.
Then, as the field returned to be unsaddled, Fil's Regent unseated jockey Paul Atkinson, who escaped injury. Fil's Regent was quickly caught by racetrack staff.
AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Howard Belvoir said that Wasserman, who beat a stakes-quality field in the opening-night allowance feature last Friday at Emerald Downs, will wheel right back in the $50,000 Seattle Handicap at six furlongs on May 4.
"It's a little quicker back than I might have wanted, but he is a sound horse and he is very fit," Belvoir said. "I don't think it will take him long to bounce back from the race he ran on Friday."
Belvoir said he began legging Wasserman up for his current campaign the first of the year at Golden Gate.
STICKNEY, Ill. - If one has regularly watched horseracing in Chicago for, oh, say, the last 40 years, the name Joseph Broussard may well ring a bell. After all, Broussard, 67, has been training horses in these parts since 1970.
"First horse I ran in Chicago," Broussard said, "was at Washington Park, horse named Ivan Pine. Earlie Fires rode him and he won. I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I can remember things like that."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Nick Gonzalez express continued its early-season roll here at Woodbine last Sunday when My List became the trainer's third stakes winner in as many weekends
Shilla had captured the opening-day La Voyageuse as the strong second favorite, and Stuck in Traffic struck a week later at odds-on in the Achievement.
My List, however, was expected to have her work cut out for her in facing fellow 4-year-old Bear Now, a Grade 2 stakes winner of four races and $769,750 in her last campaign.