HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Miss Elsie loved Oaklawn Park from the moment she set foot on the track, or so it would seem. She won her career debut here in February 2004, and on Saturday she can pick up her sixth victory from nine starts at Oaklawn when she runs in the $50,000 American Beauty Stakes.
A six-furlong race for fillies and mares, the American Beauty is the second stakes of the meet. Among the stakes winners in the 10-horse field are All for Fashion, Tempting Date, True Tails, and Tax Refund.
PHOENIX - Against the Law had been all the rage since moving to Turf Paradise in November, rattling off three huge stakes wins. Much of the luster came off, however, in the Dec. 30 Arizona Juvenile Filly, when she was beaten as the 1-9 favorite. She looks to remedy that situation Saturday when she takes on nine rivals, including the two who beat her in the Arizona Juvenile Filly, in the $40,000 Sun Devil. The race, for 3-year-old fillies, is at a mile.
Abbondanza beat Crafty Schemer fair and square in last year's Fire Plug Stakes at Laurel Park, and has the advantage of a recent race and relative youth over his now 8-year-old rival, who hasn't raced in nearly two months.
Crafty Schemer, however, will be a far shorter price than defending champion Abbondanza when the two older sprinters clash again Saturday in the $100,000 Fire Plug.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park officials have been aggressive the past several years, increasing the purse of the Arkansas Derby to $1 million, and introducing the electronic parimutuel game Instant Racing. They have continued to take that approach for the track's 56-date meet that opens on Friday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Few claiming trainers in Southern California are as hot as Frank Monteleone. He won with 4 of his first 8 starters at Santa Anita, he is 11 for 27 the past five months in California, and has won at more than a 26 percent clip since the start of 2006. What has changed?
"Nothing's changed," Monteleone said. "I have owners that let me run them where I want to run them. I have horses that are fitting right now, and we've made some claims that we've been able to move up."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Steppenwolfer, one of the top 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park a year ago, is back in Hot Springs with his main objective the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap on Aprilo7, said his trainer, Dan Peitz.
Steppenwolfer was the runner-up in the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby and ran third in the Kentucky Derby. He last raced on June 10, finishing fourth in the Belmont Stakes. Peitz said the colt could make his first start of the year in the Grade 3, $100,000 Essex Handicap on Feb. 10.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - It doesn't take a big genius to single out Little Genius as the horse to beat in Friday's $46,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, a five-furlong entry-level allowance on the turf.
Little Genius is coming off the two best performances of his career, and trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. seems to have found the perfect spot to get his versatile colt back to the winner's circle for the first time since New Year's Day 2006.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The good allowance sprinter Tontine Too was supposed to like the new Cushion Track at Hollywood Park. Because of persistent heat in his feet, Tontine Too figured to appreciate the synthetic surface that horsemen believe is more forgiving than a standard dirt track.
But the all-weather learning curve continues, and before Tontine Too had gone a quarter-mile at Hollywood, trainer Howard Zucker could see things were not working out.
ALBANY, Calif. - Since finishing last in his debut on Sept. 20, the 3-year-old maiden Cliff Dweller has not run a bad race. Even his debut, when he had to steady at the start and still finished only five lengths behind Candy's Bro, wasn't that bad.
Since then, Cliff Dweller has finished fourth, third, second, and third while running a mile on a wet track, at six furlongs, at a mile on the turf, and at six furlongs again. On Friday, he will meet five rivals in a one-mile maiden race at Golden Gate Fields.
