HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey is rarely at a loss for a first-class filly in the barn, and this winter will be no exception.
McGaughey's resume of filly and mare stars includes Smuggler, Personal Ensign, Heavenly Prize, Inside Information, Pleasant Home, My Flag, and most recently Pine Island, whose career ended with her fatal breakdown in the 2006 Breeders' Cup Distaff.
Led by Tarlet, who fires just about every time, an interesting array of nine older horses will line up for the $100,000 Native Dancer at Laurel Park on Saturday.
A solid case can be made for at least five in this one-mile scramble, and none of the other four is totally without hope.
Reckless Ways comes in with the top last-out Beyer Speed Figure (95) and four other Beyers in 2006 that are even higher. He won 6 of 9 starts last year, and his trainer, Edmond Gaudet, excels at the move Reckless Ways is making here, going from a sprint to a route.
Mr. Trieste is the best horse in Saturday's $50,000 Winsham Lad Handicap at Sunland Park, and he returns to a place where he's unbeaten in four starts. Despite his presence, 10 runners have been entered to take a shot against him in the mile race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 3 already figured to be a star-studded affair, with Breeders' Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year favorite Invasor pointing to the race. But the meet's premier event for older horses could get even better with Premium Tap on the grounds and listed as a potential starter for the Donn by trainer John Kimmel.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainers looking to use something a little longer or a little easier than last Saturday's Grade 3 Hal's Hope Handicap as a final prep for the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 3 were given that opportunity by racing secretary Dave Bailey, who wrote a money allowance race at a 1 1/8 miles on Friday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Bill Murphy has been appointed president and general manager of Gulfstream Park, track owner Magna Entertainment Corp. announced Wednesday.
Murphy had served as vice president and general manager of racing operations at Gulfstream since July 18. He has also been vice president and general manager of the Magna-owned Thistledown in Ohio since 1997.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Proposals submitted Tuesday by the California Horse Racing Board's medication committee to strengthen penalties for some drug infractions, ban the use of anabolic steroids in racehorses, and enforce a 28-day withdrawal period of the breathing medication clenbuterol was met with mixed reactions on the Santa Anita backstretch on Wednesday.
CHICAGO - Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course announced their 2007 stakes schedules late Tuesday, both of which were approved by the Illinois Racing Board in a meeting Tuesday morning in Chicago.
Neither track introduced any radical changes, but Arlington shuffled a couple of its stakes around, created a multiple stakes program in September, and added a restricted race to its calendar. Hawthorne dropped two stakes from its spring meet.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When trainer Ben Perkins Jr. brought Victory Pool to New York last winter she had the misfortune of running into the likes of multiple stakes winners Pool Land and No Sleep.
She finished second to both of those fillies.
Last month, Victory Pool returned to New York and found the company a bit softer as she rallied from off the pace to score a 1 1/2-length victory in the Gold Beauty, an overnight stakes restricted to non-stakes winners.