GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Howard Scarberry traded one horse with undesirable conformation for another a few years ago, and the owner-trainer said it has turned into one of his "luckiest" moves. Silent Pleasure has won stakes in his last three starts for Scarberry, and on Saturday figures to start as second choice to Bob and John in the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park.
The race is the richest of four stakes to be run here Saturday.
CHICAGO - The details concerning exactly which horses will be entered in a bonanza of Illinois-bred stakes action Saturday at Hawthorne won't be determined until the program is drawn Thursday. But Kentucky-based trainer Dale Romans confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Wiggins would be part of the show.
CHICAGO - Last summer, horsemen and track officials alike shuddered over any rainy morning at Arlington Park. Arlington was going through a rash of well-publicized catastrophic breakdowns, and many felt that injuries were more likely to occur, as so often is the case, on a muddy day.
But there are no more muddy days at Arlington. And the only butterflies anyone felt on a rainy Wednesday morning at the track were over how Arlington's new synthetic racing surface would stand up to its first day of training.
Two of the best Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies in training were set on a collision course when they each won an allowance race here Sunday. Mini Mom, trained by Tim Hamm, and Cryptohio, trained by Doug Cowans, are both now headed for the $50,000 Tomboy on May 19.
Mini Mom, last year's divisional champion, won a statebred optional claiming race at one mile by four lengths. It was her third win going two turns.
"We will next enter her in the Tomboy, along with a few others," Hamm said.
On Wednesday morning the list of probables for Saturday's $100,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes stood at three and more than a dozen were considered possible. The post-position draw for this meet's 1 1/16-mile showcase event was to be Thursday at 11 a.m.
Yourmoneysnogood, Motion Approved, and Tap Dancing Mauk were considered likely to enter.
The congratulatory photo following Gerard Melancon's 3,000th win last Thursday night drew an overflow cast of Melancon's fellow riders, who are at Evangeline to take advantage of the big fields at this meet. With 14 horse fields common, the rider fraternity is both large and deep.
Multiple wins on a card have been rare here this season, which made Melancon's double last Thursday just that much sweeter. Needing two wins to reach the milestone, the 39-year-old native of nearby Rayne, La., captured the second race of the evening, so the 3,000-win watch was on.
Keep an eye on apprentice Carlos Quinones, an up-and-coming rider on the Maryland circuit.
Quinones, 21, a native of Puerto Rico, was tied for first in the jockey standings after the first four days of the Pimlico meet, thanks primarily to sweeping the final four races on last Friday's card.
Quinones's four-win day was highlighted by a front-running win on Hanalei Bay ($31) in a 1 1/16-mile race for $32,000 optional claimers.
"Winning races makes me even hungrier," Quinones said afterward. "I want to get better every day."
Good crowds and nice weather greeted both fans and horsemen as the 46-day Thoroughbred meet began at Prairie Meadows last Friday night. The apron was nearly packed as Irish Party became only the seventh Iowa-bred to win an unrestricted stakes at Prairie Meadows worth at least $50,000 when she captured the $50,000 Goldfinch at six furlongs.
Will Rogers Downs has added two $25,000 Oklahoma-bred races for Thoroughbreds to its schedule, and both will be run May 12. The track worked with the Oklahoma Thoroughbred Association to develop the races, which are designed to serve as stepping-stones to the Oklahoma Classics Day program this fall at Remington Park.
The OTA Classic Prep is for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs. The Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs Classic Prep is for fillies and mares at six furlongs. Both races have $5,000 in added funds available to Oklahoma-breds eligible to the Oklahoma Classics.