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.
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.