ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Ron Ellis has been down this road before.
Talented horse, disappointing performances . . . road trip!
Ellis is trying the equivalent of sending 2004 Juvenile champion Declan's Moon back down to the minors when he runs him Saturday in an allowance race at Golden Gate Fields.
Louisiana Downs will roll out a new weekly racing schedule when it opens for a 40-day Quarter Horse meet on Saturday. Live racing at the meet, which runs through March 27, will be held from Saturday through Tuesday, rather than Thursday through Sunday.
Silver Expression has a chance Saturday to affirm her status as the top New Mexico-bred3-year-old filly when she heads Sunland Park's $125,000 La Senora Handicap.
The six-furlong stakes lured a tough field of 11, so Silver Expression's task is far from an easy one. Nevertheless, she deserves top billing off her 2006 season. After a couple promising outings in September, Silver Expression added Lasix for her Oct. 14 maiden assignment at Zia Park and romped home by 11 1/2 lengths. She returned to Zia for the Nov. 12 New Mexico Juvenile Filly and won by a neck as the 6-5 favorite.
NEW ORLEANS - The Grade 3 Risen Star at Fair Grounds is only three weeks away and plans for Triple Crown candidates are being mapped out. Steve Asmussen has several candidates in the wings and is looking forward to running them in the classics.
Asmussen's most accomplished 3-year-olds are Tiz Wonderful and Zanjero. Tiz Wonderful is undefeated in three starts, including the Grade 3 Iroquois and Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at the Churchill Downs fall meet. The 101 Beyer Speed Figure he earned winning the KJC was the fourth-highest by a 2-year-old last year.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Silver Wagon has run the best races of his career at distances of seven furlongs or shorter. But trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. plans to stretch the 6-year-old Silver Wagon out to 1 1/8 miles for next Saturday's $1omillion Sunshine Millions Classic for one reason only.
"We're going for the money," said Dutrow.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - New York Hero won three of his first five career starts, including the Grade 2 Lane's End Stakes, which put him on the Triple Crown trail. But that was four years ago. Since then, New York Hero has gone 3 for 31 without a victory of note.
That explains in part why Ernie Paragallo, the authorized agent for his family-owned Paraneck Stable, has decided to bring New York Hero back to the races at age 7.
"To be a stallion worth anything, he has to do more," Paragallo said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With an allowance race for sprinters carded for Friday and the Sunshine Millions Sprint on Jan. 27, Saturday's $150,000 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita drew only four runners. But two of the four could use the Grade 2 Palos Verdes over six furlongs as a prep to the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai on March 31.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Next weekend's Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint stole some of the thunder from Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 First Lady Handicap. But it couldn't take away Grade 1 winner Malibu Mint, a Kentucky-bred who figures to be the solid choice over seven rivals.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Mayan King and Liquor Cabinet are two horses who have run well enough to win a stakes but have yet to do so. The best chance for either colt to do just that comes in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Aqueduct Handicap over the inner track.
The Aqueduct, the lone graded stakes on this circuit during the first 10 weeks of the year, drew a field of eight, including the seven-time stakes winner Naughty New Yorker. However, with the exception of the off-the-turf Red Smith, all of Naughty New Yorker's stakes wins have come in New York-bred company.
It's almost as if Over the Edge is a triple-A ballplayer, waiting to reach a pre-determined milestone before being called up to the big leagues.
"We're just trying to make her a stakes winner," said assistant trainer Jack Bohannan, "and then we'll take it from there."
