DEL MAR, Calif. - Molengao, winner of the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at Hollywood Park in May, will not be entered in Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Trainer Paulo Lobo said he was not pleased with the way Molengao exercised Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I'm not going to make it," Lobo said. "He's a little body sore."
Lobo said Molengao would undergo medical tests this weekend.
Lava Man, the defending champion, will be favored in the Pacific Classic.
Brownie Points and Eyes on Eddy are among an excellent field that Ellis Park has assembled for the traditional highlight of its summer meet, the $150,000 Gardenia Handicap, a Grade 3 race for fillies and mares to be run Saturday at the Henderson, Ky., track.
Brownie Points, winner of the Iowa Distaff two starts back, is the 118-pound highweight in a full field of 12. Bred and owned by Pin Oak Stable, Brownie Points will be ridden by Luis Quinonez from post 8 in the one-mile Gardenia.
MIAMI - The feel good story of the week was Dead Red's victory in Saturday's $250,000 Turf Sprint Championship.
Not only did Dead Red, a former claimer and decided underdog, upset a strong field that included nationally ranked sprinter Mach Ride, he also gave trainer George Mikhalides his first stakes winner in the United States and jockey Ray Fuentes the first stakes win of his riding career. Dead Red paid $143.20 to win for his unlikely triumph in the Turf Sprint.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Red Johnson, perennially one of the top percentage trainers in Ontario, has been connecting at his usual steady clip this season.
Heading into Wednesday night's card at Woodbine, Johnson had clicked with 9 of 38 starters here, while going 5 for 8 in side trips to Fort Erie.
"It's been a good year," said Johnson, who turned 60 in June but is turning over a new leaf with his racing operation. "I've started to go young. All my life, I've been training classy old cripples. Eventually, you're stuck. You don't get any races for them here.
Jockey Ricky Faul is part of a group headed by local horse owner Mark Palmer that will be heading to Argentina later this month. Faul, 45, has been engaged by Palmer to help select horses to purchase and race at Evangeline Downs. They will be aided by bloodstock agent Pico Perdomo, a retired trainer from California.
The 4-year-old Skwhirl won his fourth stakes race last Saturday night in the Amadevil.
Skwhirl, owned and trained by Bob Rising, has scored all of his wins in Nebraska-bred stakes company. As a 2-year-old Skwhirl was third, beaten two lengths, in his career debut at Lincoln but bounced back a couple weeks later to win his maiden in the State Fair Futurity. He ended his campaign that year with a neck victory in the Columbus Futurity.
Members of the extended family of Dean Kutz, including eight of the late rider's 11 siblings, were on hand to watch Dean's sister Connie Kutz present the trophy following the victory of Dimple Pinch in the stakes race named for the former Canterbury Park leading rider.
Average daily handle and attendance both rose for the 35-day mixed meeting at Arapahoe Park that ended Sunday.
All-sources wagering on live Arapahoe races averaged $120,774 daily, up 3.5 percent from $116,870 at the 39-day meet last year. Daily attendance rose 26.7 percent, from 1,535 in 2006 to 1,945 this year.
Costa Rising will bring one of the year's highest Beyer Speed Figures into next month's $200,000 Unbridled Breeders' Cup Handicap at Louisiana Downs. He will be moving back to turf for the 1 1/16-mile race following a 12-length victory in the $200,000 Evangeline Mile, for which he earned a Beyer Figure of 114. Costa Rising, who is 2 for 2 over the Louisiana Downs turf course, ran the distance at Evangeline on Saturday night in a track-record time of 1:36.51.