ELMONT, N.Y. - After an easy half-mile in 50.80 seconds last week, his first published workout since winning the Dubai World Cup, Invasor picked up the pace Wednesday by working the same distance in 48.10 on the main track, the fifth-fastest of 33 workouts at the distance.
"He went very well this morning," said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. "We weren't sure when we were going to work him because rain is coming, so we decided to get it done today. We still have plenty of time."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A little more than five months after edging Louis O'Brien as the leading owner in North America by wins in 2006, Maggi Moss and O'Brien seem poised for another ownership duel. Through Tuesday, they were co-leading owners in North America this year with 64 victories apiece.
Yet it is a battle Moss does not want to try to win again. She said the experience last year of competing to become the leading owner in North America was grueling, and as a horse lover she had reservations about chasing a record that was not about the horses, but only her personal goal.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Three weeks into the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting, Peter Eurton finds himself in unfamiliar, but welcome, territory. He is fighting for the lead in the trainers' standings.
Through Sunday, Eurton had 5 winners from 10 starters, and trailed leader Vladimir Cerin by 1 win.
"You never expect that," Eurton said. "Everything has done so well."
MIAMI - Trainer Mike McDonald is hoping patience will be a virtue when it comes to Just for Keeps, his undefeated 3-year-old filly who has captured her first two starts by an average margin of 6 1/2 lengths.
Just for Keeps won her career debut by six lengths here last summer in the nightcap on the Summit of Speed card. A daughter of Broken Vow, Just for Keeps led throughout despite racing against the grain of a severely biased racetrack that did not yield a single gate-to-wire victory or winner on the rail until her impressive performance.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Darwin Banach and owner-breeder Bill Sorokolit have been on a roll this spring, with Sky Conqueror becoming a Grade 1 winner at Churchill Downs and Native Legend becoming a stakes winner here at Woodbine.
On Friday, the stable will be looking to add another win to its ledger with Executive Flight in the $87,900 allowance prep for the Grade 2, $300,000 Nassau Stakes on June 2.
Kentucky-based trainer Bernie Flint improved his already impressive record in stakes at Mountaineer Racetrack when his 4-year-old filly High Heritage returned from a five-month layoff to capture Tuesday night's $75,000 Hancock County Handicap.
Since January 2005, Flint is 7 for 23 with runners shipped into the Chester, W.Va., track for stakes.
His 30 percent win mark is nearly double his 2007 overall winning percentage of 17.
BALTIMORE - Leading up to every Kentucky Derby, talk abounds about how certain horses are highly unlikely to win because of statistical improbabilities based on historical precedent. The variables of 2-year-old form, the number of preps at 3, pedigree quirks, and innumerable other data are analyzed to an exhaustive degree.
CHICAGO - The Arlington Park racing week for trainer Christine Janks was to start Thursday with a pair of horses in the daily feature, and Friday looks much the same for the Janks barn. Here the race-9 feature is for high-end female allowance horses or $80,000 claimers at about 1 1/16 miles on grass, and Janks has the near-certain favorite in Chic Dancer, a mare in a love affair with the Arlington grass.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Tin Man is still not acting his age. A 9-year-old gelding, The Tin Man worked a mile Tuesday at Hollywood Park, after which trainer Richard Mandella said the multimillionaire is on target for a May 28 comeback in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile.
"He looks like he does every year when he comes back, he's very enthusiastic," Mandella said.