Retama Park near San Antonio will start its 32-date Thoroughbred meet about a month later than usual on Friday night, a change that will move its most noted stakes races, the $100,000 El Joven and $100,000 La Senorita, to October. The track will race through Nov. 17.
The later start should be good for business on several fronts, according to Bryan Brown, chief executive officer of Retama.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As expected, Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches will skip this Saturday's Grade 1 Ruffian Handicap at Belmont Park and instead will be pointed to the Grade 1 Gazelle Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 15, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Parioli's Trick won a six-furlong allowance race on Sunday in 1:10.52, the fastest clocking at the distance during the first three days of the Presque Isle Downs meet. He is trained by Charles Lopresti.
* Jockey Miguel Mena has been visiting the winner's circle with regularity the first three days of the inaugural meet. Mena won three races on Saturday, two on Sunday, and two Monday to give him seven victories. Jockey Joe Hampshire Jr. is second with three wins.
All horse players look for an edge, and this past Labor Day weekend at Prairie Meadows that edge came in the form of jockey Alex Birzer. After beginning the racing weekend tied for second in the rider standings, Birzer went on a tear, winning 13 of the 24 Thoroughbred races offered.
The highlight of his weekend came Sunday when he won the first five races on the card. Birzer's unforgettable weekend saw him take the lead in the jockey standings, opening up a four-win cushion with only six days remaining in the meet.
MIAMI - There was very little drama on this year's Juvenile Showcase card.
Six stakes races were decided on Juvenile Showcase Day, with the closest decision Honey Honey Honey's 1 1/2-length victory over the late-charging Ed the Boxer in the Seacliff Stakes. Three of the six stakes were no contests at all. Silk Ridge blew away the competition with an 8o3/4-length victory in the Susan's Girl Stakes, Wise Answer was similarly dominant taking the Affirmed by nearly seven lengths, while Ultimate Authority cruised to a 7 1/2-length triumph in the five-furlong Fasig-Tipton Turf Dash.
Rockem Sockem, the Michigan horse of the year at 3 and 4, followed up a mild upset in the Michigan Breeders' Cup in July with a resounding win in Tuesday's $50,000 Frontier Stakes at Great Lakes Downs.
Rockem Sockem ($8.80) rallied from last in the field of seven to win by 5 1/4 lengths over favored Demagoguery. It was another 5 1/4 lengths back to Its His Time, sent off as a close second choice in the wagering.
A crowd of 7,203 - the largest to attend the races locally in seven years - was on hand to usher in the 2007 Hoosier Park meet last Saturday.
The only bigger crowd during a Thoroughbred meet came on the track's inaugural program on Sept. 1, 1994, and by several runnings of the Indiana Derby.
Gold Case Motel ($21.60) overcame a slow pace set by odds-on favorite Meho Rouge to register a 4 3/4-length win in the $13,920 Soothing Waters Handicap for fillies and mares, the Labor Day feature at Fairmount Park. Ridden by Argelio Velazquez and trained by Eddie Essenpreis, Gold Case Motel covered the mile over a fast track in 1:40.60.
The Soothing Waters was the first of five overnight handicaps to be run at Fairmount this month. They are all late additions to the schedule, which was published at the beginning of the meet in March.
Columbus begins its closing weekend with a stakes doubleheader on Friday night. The $12,500 divisions of the Columbus Futurity and Debutante for Nebraska-bred 2-year-olds are carded as the third and fourth races on a nine-race program.
Deputy's Whirl, a front-running nine-length winner of a maiden race locally Aug. 12, should be favored in the six-furlong Debutante, which drew a field of six. Deputy's Whirl is one of a trio of winners in the race. Yuri Yaranga will ride for trainer Bob Rising.
Evangeline Downs concluded its 2007 meeting last Monday, posting solid gains in ontrack handle, total all-sources handle, purse distribution and field size at the 100-day meet.
Total handle on Evangeline races averaged $1,695,000 daily, an increase of 9 percent from last year's average, which in turn had posted double-digit increases from 2005. Ontrack handle showed gains as well at the Opelousas, La., oval, with the average of $69,278 also an increase of more than 9 percent from last year.