AUBURN, Wash. - Wasserman and Nationhood will be co-highweighted at 120 pounds for the $50,000 Seattle Handicap at six furlongs Sunday. The race is expected to draw at least eight starters.
The Howard Belvoir-trained Wasserman won last season's Governor's Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs and ran third in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile. He prepped for Sunday's stakes with a sharp half-length victory over Bound to Be M V P in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance test here on opening night, April 18.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Golden Spikes, who ran second to Recapturetheglory in last month's Illinois Derby, is being strongly considered for a start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Lone Star Derby on May 10, said his trainer, Marty Wolfson. He said the other option for the horse is the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan the same day at Belmont Park in New York.
"We're leaning toward Texas right now," Wolfson said Thursday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two fillies might be better than one, but not when one draws the 12 hole and has the Kentucky Derby as an alternative. Without Eight Belles, the 134th Kentucky Oaks still will get a Larry Jones filly, Proud Spell, as a major contender, and the 100,000-plus racing fans who will descend Friday on Churchill Downs are sure to judge the filly classic as even more competitive than before.
AUBURN, Wash. - Shampoo has become something of a drought-breaker, in at least two senses of that phrase.
First, it seems to rain every time Shampoo is scheduled to race.
"There are umbrellas in just about all of her win pictures," said trainer Doris Harwood. "No matter how sunny it is in the morning, I always bring my rain gear over to the front side when she runs."
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Brownie Points, who is possibly the best mare based at Lone Star Park, will make her first appearance at the meet later this month in the Grade 3, $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff. She will be moving back to turf for that one-mile race, part of the Lone Star Million Day program of six stakes here May 26.
Assiniboia Downs will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this season, and the Winnipeg racetrack's 70-day meeting begins Friday evening.
Racing secretary Ray Miller put together an eight-race card for opening night with 62 horses entered for a program that begins at 7:05 p.m. Central. All of Friday's races will be run at five furlongs.
The opening-night feature, an open allowance for fillies and mares, attracted a field of six, including recent Portland Meadows stakes winner Blanding.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - For the second consecutive week, Mr Napper Tandy has been entered in the feature race at Hollywood Park on Saturday. This weekend, he is an intended runner in the $100,000 Inglewood Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
Last Saturday, trainer Jack Carava took a look at the field for the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap and decided that Mr Napper Tandy was staying in the barn.
"He was 30-1 and it looked like he couldn't win the race," Carava said. "This looks like a much easier spot. He fits with these kinds of horses. I don't think he'll be 30-1."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Edenwold, the 2005 Canadian champion 2-year-old colt and 2006 Queen's Plate winner for owners Jim and Alice Sapara, has been retired from racing and sold for stud duty to Selwyn River Stud in New Zealand.
Edenwold, a 5-year-old son of Southern Halo out of Best of Friends, by Mining, was bred by Gail Wood and William Diamant and was purchased by the Saparas' Winsong Farms for $100,000 at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario division) 2004 September yearling sale.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The seemingly endless wait before Saturday's 6:04 p.m. post time for the Kentucky Derby should pass a little easier with the opportunity to watch and wager on five competitive undercard stakes headed by the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic and Grade 1 Humana Distaff.
The Woodford Reserve and Humana Distaff will be preceded on Saturday's 12-race program at Churchill Downs by the Grade 2, $250,000 Churchill Downs Handicap, the Grade 3, $150,000 La Troienne, and the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Turf Mile.