ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Darwin Banach and owner-breeder Bill Sorokolit already had some serious stakes runners in the barn heading into the 2007 season, with Canadian turf champion Sky Conqueror and the stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Palace Pier among their charges.
Now Native Legend, a 3-year-old filly who was bred by Sorokolit in Kentucky, has burst onto the scene with her rallying two-length victory in Sunday's $125,000 Star Shoot here at Woodbine.
Time has just about run out for slots to be legalized at Indiana's two racetracks this year, but there is still reason for optimism when the state's Thoroughbred season begins Friday evening with a 48-day stand at Indiana Downs in Shelbyville.
Bills legalizing slots passed both houses of the Indiana legislature recently, but differences between the House and Senate concerning the amount of the licensing fee has kept the legislation bottled up in a conference committee. Reconcilement before the legislature adjourns this weekend appears unlikely.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Sure, Mike Mitchell can train an older horse like On the Acorn to win a Grade 2 turf race like the San Juan Capistrano at 1 3/4 miles. But can Mitchell train a 2-year-old to win first out at 4 1/2 furlongs? That is the question Thursday in race 2, the first juvenile race of the meet, in which Mitchell entered Magic Mike. Until two weeks ago, the 2-year-old was trained in Florida by Wesley Ward.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The long Aqueduct session concludes with a four-stakes weekend. On Saturday, the Grade 3, $150,000 Withers Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile shares top billing with the Grade 3, $100,000 Beaugay Handicap for fillies and mares - New York's first graded stakes of the year scheduled for turf.
Sunday's stakes doubleheader consists of the Grade 3, $100,000 Fort Marcy Handicap for older males on turf at 1 1/16 miles, and the $65,000 Kings Point Handicap for New York-breds on the main track at 1 1/8 miles.
CHICAGO - The winners of the two graded stakes races last Saturday at Hawthorne could wind up competing on the same racing program again on June 16 at Churchill Downs. Master Command, who won the National Jockey Club Handicap, is being pointed to a start that day in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap, while Kettleoneup, who won the Sixty Sails Handicap, could start the same afternoon in the $300,000 Fleur de Lis Handicap.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The trainer of Declan's Moon wonders the same as everyone. That is, whatever happened to the champion 2-year-old of 2004, and what can bettors expect when Declan's Moon returns Thursday at Hollywood Park?
"I have no idea," trainer Ron Ellis said. "After the last race, I really have no idea."
Who does? After winning his first five starts and an Eclipse Award, Declan's Moon went into a prolonged tailspin. Arthroscopic surgery cut short his 3-year-old campaign, and Declan's Moon finished a sharp second in his comeback last July. It was his last good race.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Talented young jockey Joel Rosario will be on full display during Thursday's card at Golden Gate Fields.
Rosario, 22, a native of the Dominican Republic, has mounts in all eight races, and each one seems live, from Sail on Sunshine for trainer Gary Mandella in the first to Jorja's Straight for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in the eighth race.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Chromedoll ran a breakthrough race in her last start, and a repeat of that effort will be tough to contain in Thursday night's featured eighth race at Lone Star Park. The 7 1/2-furlong, first-level turf allowance for fillies and mares drew a field of 10.
Chromedoll will attract a lot of attention following her eight-length win over $25,000 conditioned claimers in a mile turf race at Sam Houston Race Park on March 29. She earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 81 for the win, a rating that tops all last-race Beyers in the field Thursday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The sequence of milestones for a young man in the extended Baze family is somewhat predictable. Getting out of diapers is followed by learning how to ride horses, maybe a few seasons of Little League, and then the launch of a career as a jockey as a teenager.
Michael Baze, one of the hottest jockeys in Southern California, skipped part of that sequence.
ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields, the California Authority of Racing Fairs, Thoroughbred Owners of California, and California Thoroughbred Trainers have jointly come up with a Northern California racing schedule in 2008, said Robert Hartman, the general manager of Golden Gate Fields, which opens on Wednesday.