Awards were handed out to the state's leading horses and breeders of 2007 last Saturday when the Nebraska Thoroughbred Breeders Association held its annual banquet at the Midtown Holiday Inn in Grand Island, Neb.
Bevys Dazzler and C.R. Charmer were honored as older horse and older female of the year, respectively.
This year's John Franks Memorial 2-year-olds in training sale at Evangeline Downs will offer 191 youngsters on March 30 beginning at 10 a.m. Central. There will be a preview gallop show on March 29 at noon.
Increased purses at Louisiana's four tracks because of slot machine revenue has helped increase not only the number of horses offered in the sale but also the quality.
Miss Atlantic City, who won her first start since December 2006 in the $50,000 Golden Triangle last month at Delta Downs, could return to the Vinton, La., track for her next start, said her trainer, Keith Desormeaux. He said she is being considered for the $100,000 Goddess for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on March 21.
"Nothing's really set in stone," Desormeaux said of plans for Miss Atlantic City. "But she sure has shown an affinity for Delta, and there's good money waiting. Why not give it a shot? It seems like the most practical thing to do."
Real Appeal could develop into a new player on the 3-year-old map. He will likely return to graded stakes competition for his next start after he won his season debut last Saturday night in the $50,000 Texas Heritage Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.
The race was Real Appeal's first start since finishing fourth by 1 3/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs in November. He closed well for a 2 1/2-length win in the one-mile race, and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 87.
OPELOUSAS, La. - Evangeline Downs will offer 25 stakes worth a record $2.01 million at its 85-day spring-summer meeting that begins April 9. The stakes purses represent a 12 percent increase from 2007.
Three new races appear on the schedule. The $75,000 Opelousas for 2-year-old fillies will be run Aug. 30. The $60,000 Salute for Louisiana-bred 3-year-old fillies will run June 13, and the $60,000 Acclaim for statebred 3-year-old colts and geldings will be contested on June 14.
NEW ORLEANS - When Blackberry Road starts in Saturday's Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, he will be the only member of the field to have raced in all three legs of Fair Grounds's series of stakes for 3-year-olds. He finished second to Z Fortune in the Lecomte and a troubled fifth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths, to Pyro in the Risen Star.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Ten Meropa, the winner of the Grade 3 Baldwin Stakes last Sunday in his U.S. debut, may start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 5 and is an outside candidate for the Kentucky Derby, co-owner Joe Masino said on Wednesday.
Masino, who races under the name Class Racing Stable, owns Ten Meropa with Tom Arndt's A&R Stable.
"If he makes it to the Derby that would be great," said Masino, who was at Santa Anita on Wednesday morning, checking on his horses.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Jonesboro appears to be sitting on a peak effort heading into the Grade 3, $150,000 Razorback Breeders' Cup at Oaklawn Park on Saturday. He worked five furlongs in a bullet 59.60 seconds in his final prep for the 1 1/16-mile race, which will be the third start of his form cycle.
Catscape, a $15,000 claim last summer at Ruidoso Downs, has the fastest qualifying time to the Grade 2, $65,000 West Texas Maturity on Saturday at Sunland Park.
Catscape ran the 400 yards in 19.059 seconds to win the third of three trials by a neck. Since the claim, he also has run third in the Grade 1 Bank of America Texas Challenge.
The 20th Quarter Horse meet at Remington Park, which begins Friday night, will not only offer record daily average purses of $200,000, but also will dramatically increase the purse of the Gradeo1 Heritage Place Futurity, to an estimated of $1.1 million.
The previous record daily purse distribution was $158,580 in 2007, and the previous record purse for a race at Remington Park was $677,365 for the 2006 Heritage Place Futurity.