HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Kentucky Derby-winning trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Nick Zito will square off at Oaklawn Park on Saturday in the $300,000 Rebel Stakes. Lukas is pointing Stone Bird, a two-time winner at the meet, for the 1 1/16-mile race, while Zito has sent in Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes winner Anak Nakal.
Success could be Kjell Qvale's middle name.
The 88-year-old Norwegian native is back at the highest level of Northern California racing with Tribesman, a four-legged rocket ship who comes into Saturday's Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint with five straight victories. Last time out, in the Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise, he defeated Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Idiot Proof by 1 3/4 lengths.
While horse racing is always a bumpy ride, Kjell Qvale (pronounced Shell Ka-VAH-lee) has enjoyed every minute of it.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Despite its Grade 3 status, Saturday's $100,000 Cicada Stakes is expected to attract a small field of locally based 3-year-old fillies.
The Cicada lost its probable favorite when trainer Eddie Kenneally opted to point the Florida-based Keep the Peace to the $250,000 Beaumont at Keeneland next month. Keep the Peace, a New York-bred daughter of Touch Gold, recorded two strong victories against open company before getting beaten by a nose by Bsharpsonata in the Grade 2 Forward Gal at Gulfstream on Feb. 9.
New York rider and Columbus, Neb., native Channing Hill will make a special appearance at Fonner Park on Sunday when he returns home for a weekend family gathering.
Hill, 20, began his riding career at age 16 at Columbus and Prairie Meadows in Iowa. He is tied for sixth in the rider standings at Aqueduct with 25 wins entering Wednesday's racing. Last month, he won his first graded stakes when he guided Golden Dawn to a six-length win in the Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park.
Jockey Gerard Melancon's decision to ride full time at Delta Downs for the first time since 1989 has been a lucrative one. He set a single-season record for wins by a jockey at the track last Saturday night, when he picked up his 122nd victory of the meet. Melancon also has set the mark for mount earnings in a season, with $2,440,920.
The previous season record of 121 wins was shared by Tracy Hebert and Guy Smith. The previous earnings mark of $2,415,745 had been held by Hebert.
In order to give horses more opportunities to gain black type, Philadelphia Park has added six overnight stakes worth $75,000 apiece to its spring schedule.
The first in the series, the Bensalem for 4-year-olds and up at 6 1/2 furlongs, will be run Tuesday.
The list of 31 nominees includes Xchanger, who would be making his first start since finishing fourth in the Cigar Mile last November. Xchanger, a 4-year-old colt trained by Mark Shuman, is considered probable for the Bensalem, according to Sal Sinatra Jr., Philadelphia Park's director of racing.
NEW ORLEANS - It's a sure sign a trainer is having a good meet when he claims that the rainouts have worked in his favor, and that's the kind of banner Fair Grounds season Malcolm Pierce has enjoyed.
Danceroftherealm's victory in the Bienville Stakes on Saturday was almost overshadowed by Sunday's dominating effort by Much Obliged, a 3-year-old owned and bred by Pin Oak Stud. Pierce trains them both.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Playing races close to the standard handicapping book did not always get results during opening week of the Hawthorne meet. Monday's nine-race card alone produced winners who paid $24.80, $53.60, $60.80, and $107. The early pick three was so improbable that not a single bettor hit it.
Part of this is the season. Hawthorne has been dark since early January, and many of the horses here are running for the first time after a winter break. Sheer fitness can win a race for a horse who - on paper - may look outclassed.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Rags to Riches, the Belmont Stakes winner and 3-year-old filly champion in 2007, had her first recorded workout since returning to trainer Todd Pletcher's barn at Palm Beach Downs earlier this winter when she breezed three furlongs in 38.40 seconds at the training center on Tuesday.
Rags to Riches had been sidelined with a hairline fracture of her right front pastern sustained during her second-place finish to Lear's Princess in the Gazelle Stakes in her last start as a 3-year-old.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Saturday's Grade 3, $125,000 Bay Meadows Sprint Handicap may be Northern California's most eagerly awaited race of 2008. The race has drawn five sprinters, four of them multiple stakes winners, and the fifth stakes-placed.
But the focus is on two runners: Tribesman, who has won five straight starts, including the Phoenix Gold Cup on Feb. 16 while earning a 105 Beyer Speed Figure, and Vicarino, who set a Bay Meadows track record at five furlongs despite breaking slowly last time out on Feb. 21.
