ELMONT, N.Y. - Though the members of the International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Stable will be preoccupied with the proceedings in Kentucky on Saturday, they will be very interested in at least one race at Belmont Park.
Irish Smoke, winner of last year's Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga, will be making her first start for IEAH when she runs in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Nassau County Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Keeneland Race Course on Monday released a full business report that revealed average all-sources handle at its 16-day spring meet was down 11 percent over the corresponding 2007 meet, while average ontrack handle was down nearly 6 percent despite an increase in average attendance of 6 percent.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Lava Man's losing streak continued into 2008 with a third-place finish in the Khaled Stakes for statebreds on Sunday, but trainer Doug O'Neill said his faith in the 7-year-old multi-millionaire gelding has not wavered.
Lava Man is winless in four starts since his third consecutive win in the Hollywood Gold Cup last June.
A cooperative of racetracks on the Eastern Seaboard has broken off negotiations on a simulcasting agreement with the New York Racing Association for the rights to accept wagers on Belmont Park, the cooperative said on Monday.
Belmont Parks popular spring-summer meet opens on Wednesday. The executive director of the cooperative which includes 16 member tracks in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire said the cooperative was unwilling to pay the rate that NYRA was seeking for the Belmont signal.
Goinwest posted a mild surprise in the $50,000 Dwight D. Patterson Handicap, one of five stakes run at Turf Paradise for Arizona-breds. Trained by Brian Pitnick for the 1 1/16-mile turf event, Goinwest edged away under O.A. Martinez Jr. to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Hey Slick rallied from far back to be second. Social Order, the 8-5 favorite, finished fourth in the field of 10. Goinwest ($8.60) ran the 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:42.82.
The Roll Reroll stable, trainer Kelly Von Hemel, and jockey Eddie Razo Jr. took both of Prairie Meadows stakes races on Saturday night.
Lindsey's Wish won a hard-fought stretch duel with the previously undefeated Amazing Tale to take the Goldfinch by a neck. Lindsey's Wish ($4) covered the six furlongs in 1:10.12
In the Golden Circle Stakes, Maya's Storm $3.20 overpowered his five rivals to win by a widening three lengths over the pacesetting Grand Sensation in 1:09.37.
The Nutz stunned Fonner Park with his $52 win in the $75,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes. Yield to the Storm set the pace for nearly six furlongs in 1 1/16-mile race in muddy going. The Nutz, with Don Herber riding, wore down the front-running Yield to the Storm to move clear into the stretch. Wayzata Bay, the 3-5 favorite in the field of 9, closed strongly but fell a length short. Habaneros finished 2 3/4 lengths farther back in third.
The Nutz covered the distance in 1:47.40.
Bold Chieftain, trained by Bill Morey Jr., was the 3-10 favorite in the $125,000 Bay Meadows Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, after the scratches of Now Victory and Heroi Do Bafra. Under Russell Baze, Bold Chieftain ($2.60) took full advantage, stalking pacesetter Our Partner, moving up to challenge into the lane, and drawing clear to win by two lengths. He covered the distance in 1:42.36.Bold Chieftain, trained by Bill Morey Jr., was the 3-10 favorite in the $125,000 Bay Meadows Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, after the scratches of Now Victory and Heroi Do Bafra.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shilla passed her second test on the road to the June 8 Woodbine Oaks here on Sunday with a determined win in the $150,800 Fury.
After capturing the six-furlong La Voyageuse in her season debut, Shilla had to take her game to a new level with the lightly raced but undefeated Gloriously and Dowd Chapel among her Fury opponents.
Nick Gonzalez, who trains Shilla for owner and breeder Brian Cullen, is well aware that the competition isn't going to get any easier in the near future.