GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Forest Melody will be trainer Paula Capestro's first starter at Lone Star Park when she runs in the Grade 3, $200,000 Ouija Board here Monday. Capestro almost ran a horse in the Ouija Board two years ago - River's Prayer - but changed her mind. River's Prayer went on to become a Grade 1-winning sprinter.
"Now we get our shot at the race again," Capestro said.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - A number of Thoroughbred trainers over the years have achieved success with claiming horses before moving on to allowance and stakes runners.
The late Dick Dutrow was a prime example of success in the claiming game, and his son, Richard Dutrow Jr., also began his career in the claiming ranks before arriving at the pinnacle of racing.
Don MacRae, 31, has already proven himself and is building a solid reputation with his stable of claimers.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Something seemed to be missing from last weekend's opening day at Louisiana Downs. That something was the veteran rider E. J. Perrodin.
"I can't remember ever missing an opening at Lad," Perrodin said from his in-laws' home in Diamondhead, Miss., where he was visiting with his young son and wife Lisa. "Maybe a little time here and there, but never an opening."
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The trainer with the largest 2-year-old operation in Illinois has 25 stalls at Arlington, but all those unraced young horses are way downstate at Fairmount Park. The same trainer conditions one of the best 3-year-old fillies with Illinois connections, but upon easily winning the Grade 3 Miss Preakness Stakes last weekend at Pimlico, Palanka City was sent not to Arlington, but on to Prairie Meadows.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Skipped Bail and Nottawasaga both could be in line for solid campaigns this year in their respective turf divisions for Chiefswood Farm and trainer Eric Coatrieux.
Skipped Bail, an Ontario-bred 5-year-old gelding, and Nottawasaga, a Kentucky-bred 5-year-old mare, run in the first turf stakes races of the meeting.
Jockey Jack Lauzon, whose career highlights included Queen's Plate wins with Regal Intention in 1988 and Basqueian in 1994, will be this year's recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award.
The Gomez Award honors a jockey who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or has competed regularly in the country for more than five years and who has made significant contributions to the sport.
The honor is in memory of Avelino Gomez, a Woodbine institution who died of complications after a three-horse spill in the 1980 Canadian Oaks.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - To an extent, Get Funky is living in the past.
He was a top 3-year-old turf male at Del Mar in 2006, finishing third in the Grade 2 La Jolla Handicap and winning the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. Racing as an older horse has proven more difficult. Since he turned 4 last year, Get Funky has won 2 of 7 starts and one stakes - the Grade 3 Morvich Handicap last fall. One other bright spot was a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park in May 2007.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Stronach Stables and trainer Bobby Frankel won the richest race in Lone Star Park history back in 2004, when Ghostzapper took down the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic. Saturday, the team has a rare starter here for the co-richest race of the meet. Giant Gizmo is in town for the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap on Monday, and the size of the purse is one reason why.
"It's $400,000," Frankel said. "[And] I think he's getting better."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Horseplayers often prove quite resilient. Even in times of war, outrageous gas prices, purse cuts, and prolonged contractual squabbles, they still can be relatively content in their own little world if only the ontrack product remains satisfactory.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The complexion of Monday's $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap changed dramatically on Thursday when trainer Craig Dollase said the speedy Monterey Jazz would not be coming to Belmont for the Grade 1 race.
Dollase said that Monterey Jazz came out of a Wednesday workout at Hollywood Park with some tightness in his hind end. He said Monterey Jazz would be sent to the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos, Calif., to undergo tests.