MIAMI - With the $2 million Summit of Speed coming up in a little over a month, any stakes or higher-class allowance sprints here over the next several weeks will take on added importance for locally based runners hoping to earn a starting berth in one of the four graded stakes on the July 7 card.
Monday's $28,000 allowance feature for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs was a case in point, with both Izzie's Halo and Frosty Secret having their eyes set on the Grade 2 Carry Back Stakes.
BALTIMORE - Time's Mistress, taking advantage of a contested pace and a clever, ground-saving ride from Mark Guidry, rallied boldly through the lane to capture the Grade 3, $125,000 Miss Preakness Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters on Friday at Pimlico.
Time's Mistress ($17.80) caught Silver Knockers inside the sixteenth pole and quickly drew away to prevail by 1 3/4 lengths. Silver Knockers finished second, 3 3/4 lengths in front of third-place Richwoman.
ALBANY, Calif. - The 2-year-old Imaginary Sailor probably is best known now as Cause to Believe's younger half-brother. But after Imaginary Sailor's debut Friday, Cause to Believe may become known as his older half-brother.
Imaginary Sailor has some big shoes to fill to match his older sibling, who won three stakes as a 2-year-old and swept the California Derby and El Camino Real Derby last year at 3.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Allowance races are supposed to be softer spots than the stakes races for which they often serve as preps.
Wednesday's sixth race at Churchill Downs, an open $65,000 allowance at 1 1/16 miles on turf that is written in the condition book as a prep for the June 16 Mint Julep Handicap, is one of those rare exceptions. A stakes-caliber field of seven has been entered, led by Mauralakana, Delicate Dynamite, and Rich in Spirit.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's Grade 3, $250,000 Selene looked like a wide-open race, with a case to be made for at least half of the 3-year-old fillies in the 12-horse field here at Woodbine.
Instead, the 1 1/16-mile Selene turned out to be a one-horse race as Bear Now, traveling around two turns for the first time, tracked a quick pace and roared through the stretch for an eight-length score under new rider Emile Ramsammy.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Aside from a rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and Preakness winner Curlin, the next-best scenario for the June 9 Belmont Stakes would be the presence of the talented 3-year-old filly Rags to Riches.
Rags to Riches returned to the work tab on Monday, drilling four furlongs in 48.24 seconds, her first move since winning the Kentucky Oaks on May 4. A half-sister to Belmont Stakes winner Jazil by Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy, Rags to Riches remains a possibility to start in the $1 million Belmont, her trainer, Todd Pletcher, said Monday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The problem with the flashy 3-year-old season that Three Degrees had in 2005 is that she has to live up to it.
Three Degrees won the Grade 2 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap in 2005 and later that season placed in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. Last year, she was second in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes in November, her best result in a winless five-race season.
This year, Three Degrees can answer any questions about her with a win on Monday in the $300,000 Gamely Breeders' Cup Handicap.
All-sources handle on the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course was $57,360,494, the third-highest handle figure for the race in its history and a slight gain over last year's figure, according to numbers released by Pimlico on Monday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey David Flores won the 3,000th race of his career aboard the longshot Time To Get Even in Sunday's $109,700 Laz Barrera Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Park, a mount he picked up after jockey Alex Bisono took off because of soreness earlier in the day.
Flores guided Time to Get Even wide through the stretch to catch 2-1 favorite Principle Secret in the final strides to win by a neck. Principle Secret, who was part of the early pace, held second and finished a nose in front of Desert Code in the field of eight 3-year-olds.
AUBURN, Wash. - Dinner at Arlene's ($45.60), clearly relishing the sloppy track, went to the front with an initial quarter-mile in 22 seconds and splashed to a 2 3/4 length victory over favored Kissntheboysgoodby in Sunday's $45,000 Hastings Park Handicap at Emerald Downs.