OLDSMAR, Fla. - Turf runners from the Chicago circuit have been very successful in the early days of Tampa's meeting, which bodes well for Art of Diplomacy on Tuesday. The long-striding Diplomatic Jet gelding, who won a maiden race at Hawthorne in early November, tops a full field of 10 in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Jose Lezcano, last year's leading rider and regarded by most as a top turf jockey, will handle Art of Diplomacy for trainer Ronnie Behrens.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Hollywood Park already has put in Cushion Track. Del Mar will install Polytrack, and Golden Gate Fields will put in Tapeta. Synthetic surfaces are unspooling like carpet across California, the result of a mandate by the state's racing board to have synthetic surfaces installed at California's five major Thoroughbred tracks by the end of 2007.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Some people still believe in Santa Claus and Brother Derek. Good luck cashing a bet on either one.
The winter racing season begins Tuesday at Santa Anita, where neither holiday cheer nor Brother Derek's $1.5 million bankroll are relevant in a seven-furlong sprint that is the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, the traditional opening-day feature the day after Christmas.
For most of his adult life, Phil Sims has been hearing wisecracks about how he shares the same phonetic name as a far more famous fellow Kentuckian. Sims was on the verge of starting his career as a horse trainer while attending the University of Kentucky in Lexington in the late 1970's, just when a future National Football League star quarterback named Phil Simms was winding down his college football career at Morehead State University in eastern Kentucky.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When jockey Alex Solis's best 3-year-olds both entered Tuesday's seven-furlong, Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita, he had to choose one or the other - Brother Derek or Arson Squad.
"It was a tough decision, because they are two really good horses," Solis said. "I didn't want to lose either of them."
Solis has been aboard for all 13 of Brother Derek's starts, winning six races and more than $1.5 million; he has been aboard for seven of Arson Squad's eight starts, winning four races and $372,450.
MIAMI - Sweetnorthernsaint, the betting favorite in this year's Kentucky Derby and runner-up to Bernardini in the Preakness, is giving every sign he will be even better as a 4-year-old as he continues to prepare for his 2007 debut in the Jan. 6 Hal's Hope Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Sweetnorthernsaint worked five furlongs in 58.60 seconds under jockey Eddie Castro in company with stablemate Baena at Gulfstream on Saturday. The work was his first since his arrival in south Florida earlier this month.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Bringing home purse money is good anytime of the year, but taking down some extra dough just before Christmas is especially sweet. And no one at Hawthorne during the week before Christmas had a bigger bonanza than jockey Israel Ocampo.
Fabulous Strike faced token opposition the last time he was shipped to West Virginia, and he responded with the fastest race of his career while racing alone on the lead. A similar scenario appears quite likely when Fabulous Strike returns to Mountaineer Race Track to make his first start against older horses in Tuesday night's $75,000 Christmas Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Rose Bowl is played and the Rose Parade is held a few miles away from here, in Pasadena. The road to the roses, however, comes right through Santa Anita.
Five times in the past 10 years, the winner of the Kentucky Derby has spent the winter racing at Santa Anita. Not since 1989, however, has the Kentucky Derby winner also won the Santa Anita Derby. So while California might be the place to prep for the Derby, history shows that the best 3-year-old in the West in April might not be so on the first Saturday in May.
ALBANY, Calif. - Tuesday's opening of the Golden Gate Fields meeting could signal the start of a new era in northern California racing or simply a brief experiment.
The 31-day meet will include four-day race weeks rather than the traditional five-day weeks. Racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday, with the exception of the opener and the Monday cards of New Year's Day and Dr. Martin Luther King Day.
