TORONTO, Ontario - Fort Erie will offer a reduced number of racing days and purse structure this year, as well as a streamlined stakes and "cup" race schedule for its 84-day meeting.
With the Bison City Stakes relocating to Woodbine, Fort Erie will offer only four added-money events in 2007.
Topping the schedule is the $500,000 Prince of Wales, the 1 3/16-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds that is the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.
The purse for the Grade 2 CashCall Mile at Hollywood Park has been boosted to $1 million and will be run at night under the lights on Friday, July 6, track officials announced Wednesday.
Sponsored by the loan company owned by horse owner J. Paul Reddam, the CashCall is a one-mile grass race for fillies and mares. The race carried a purse of $750,000 in 2006.
In the 3-year-old filly Total, trainer Al Stall already had a horse for the Fair Grounds Oaks, and now the Stall barn has a colt for the Louisiana Derby - and perhaps points beyond. Ketchikan finished fourth in his career debut Dec. 24 at Fair Grounds, but came back with a smart sprint maiden win and a significantly more impressive entry-level allowance victory at a mile last Friday, earning a berth in the March 10 Louisiana Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Bushfire, who was given time off to freshen up following her 11th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, has returned to trainer Eddie Kenneally's barn at Palm Meadows to begin preparations for her 4-year-old campaign.
Bushfire, a daughter of Louis Quatorze, was a three-time Grade 1 winner at 3, with victories in the Ashland, Acorn, and Mother Goose. She also finished third following a rough trip in the Kentucky Oaks.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher dumped a bit of a bombshell on nine of his peers when he slipped Eclipse Award finalist English Channel into Thursday's $57,500 allowance feature, carded at a 1 1/8 miles on the grass.
English Channel was one of the premier turf horses in the United States in 2006, winning three Gradeo1 races and finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Turf. He began the campaign on the Gulfstream turf, defeating eventual Eclipse Award champion Miesque's Approval in the Canadian Turf Handicap.
Philadelphia Park announced Tuesday that the purse of its marquee race, the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby, will be increased to $1 million for 2007.
"There's something special about that million-dollar plateau," said Hal Handel, the track's chief executive officer. "We're excited that we can now offer our fans a race like this."
After legislation allowing a limited number of slot-machine licenses passed in Pennsylvania, the machines debuted at Philadelphia Park in December 2006, and the revenue is expected to boost purses considerably.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Greg's Gold had progressed by the summer of 2005 to be one of the leading sprinters on the Southern California circuit. Then he disappeared. But after being away from the races for nearly 19 months, he showed up over the weekend and proved that he still belongs. Greg's Gold's dazzling comeback victory in an allowance race at Santa Anita convinced his trainer, David Hofmans, that he's back.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Jim Ryerson was not intending to run his multiple stakes-winning filly Livermore Valley this winter. But through an odd set of circumstances, Ryerson will launch the filly's 4-year-old campaign Thursday in the $65,000 Stormy Krissy, an overnight stakes at six furlongs over Aqueduct's inner track.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Iftheshoefits can become the fourth horse to exit a November race at Churchill Downs and win when he starts Thursday in the featured ninth race at Oaklawn Park. The first-level allowance is for older horses, and it will be run over six furlongs.
Actually, Iftheshoefits is one of two horses in the field coming out of a key race. Slick Carson seeks to become the third next-out winner to emerge from a November race at Remington Park. Other contenders in the field of seven Thursday include recent maiden winner Night Book.
