VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Hastings opens its 2007 live meet on Saturday and it figures to be a tough year for local horsemen. There will be only 68 days of racing, 10 fewer than last year, and the 20 percent purse reduction that was instituted last fall is still in effect.
Purses are down because the slots that were approved by the Vancouver City Council in August 2004 still haven't arrived. Purses for the past few years were based on potential slot revenue.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stradivinsky was looming as the horse to beat in Saturday's seven-furlong Vigil after romping by 7 3/4 lengths and earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure in the April 14 Jacques Cartier here, his first start in more than five months.
But when push came to shove, trainer Malcolm Pierce elected to keep Stradivinsky in the barn rather than bring him back to the races on two weeks' notice.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Nick Zito may not have a horse in the Kentucky Derby, but that doesn't mean his 3-year-old class won't be heard from this year.
Zito is hopeful that C P West, one of his talented juvenile colts from 2006, can be a factor in the second half of the season. After finishing a solid second in his 3-year-old debut last month at Gulfstream, C P West will be one of the choices in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Wayne Catalano said Wednesday morning from Keeneland that he and owner Frank Calabrese are seriously considering running Dreaming of Anna next Friday in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, contrary to what they had been planning for weeks.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Greg's Gold, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita earlier this month, will make a surprise appearance in Sunday's $150,000 Tiznow Stakes at Hollywood Park.
Trainer David Hofmans said Wednesday that he is taking advantage of Greg's Gold's status as a California-bred to start him in the Tiznow Stakes, which is part of the California Gold Rush program, a 10-race card for statebreds.
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.