OLDSMAR, Fla. - Summer Cruise, who unleashed a strong late rally to capture the Minaret Stakes here in her last start, takes on several stakes-caliber runners from out of town on Saturday when she seeks her fourth win from seven career starts in the seven-furlong Manatee Stakes.
Summer Cruise, a 4-year-old Vicar filly trained by Mike Zwiesler, is 3 for 3 at Tampa. She started her career in eye-catching fashion here a year ago, winning her first two outings, a maiden race and an allowance.
NEW ORLEANS - Purim turned in one of the most impressive performances by an older horse on the Fair Grounds turf this meet when he won the Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap last month. It was only his second race since he just missed to the classy Rush Bay in the June 3 Opening Verse at Churchill Downs, yet he turned in a dead game performance, arguing the early pace and then tracking the leader, taking command in the stretch, and coming again after being headed inside the sixteenth pole to best Fort Prado by a head.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - What can Miesque's Approval do for an encore?
After capping off a sensational and surprising 7-year-old campaign by winning the Breeders' Cup Mile and earning the Eclipse Award as the top male turf horse of 2006, Miesque's Approval returns at 8 for yet another season beginning Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $100,000 Canadian Turf Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
By MARCUS HERSH
The owner Evelyn Benoit, who races as Brittlyn Stables, was according to her trainer Victor Arceneaux dealing with some butter beans in her kitchen one day when her roving mind struck upon a name: Mean Butterbean. There are no accounts of other Louisiana-bred equines poking fun at the 5-year-old bay gelding, especially since Mean Butterbean is the only Louisiana-bred of late to strike fear into Costa Rising, the pro tem leader of the Louisiana-bred older horse division.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - On a card that features two Breeders' Cup winners and one of the leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby, the Grade 2, $150,000 Swale Stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park might get overlooked. But that would be a mistake, because there are several late-developing 3-year-olds in the 6 1/2-furlong race, including a promising colt trained by a two-time Derby winner, and another colt who is starting to justify the $1.5 million paid for him a year ago.
NEW ORLEANS - Follow the Lite has been a terrific claim for trainer Patrick Mouton, and on Saturday she'll attempt to win her second stakes of the Fair Grounds meet for him in the $75,000 Pan Zareta Breeders' Cup, a sprint for older fillies and mares.
The well-matched field of nine includes several accomplished rivals, including graded-stakes-placed runners Annika Lass and Hatpin and multiple stakes winner Mykindasaint.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Newly crowned Horse of the Year Invasor will have little time to rest on his laurels as he begins the defense of his title Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $500,000 Donn Handicap. The Grade 1 Donn will be the last of six stakes on an outstanding 11-race program that also features an appearance by turf Eclipse winner Miesque's Approval in the Grade 3, $100,000 Canadian Turf Handiap and the 3-year-old debuts of top Kentucky Derby hopefuls Nobiz Like Shobiz and Scat Daddy.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The retirement of top miler Aragorn last fall has left a vacancy in the California turf division. There are plenty of candidates hoping to take his place at the top of the rankings in that division.
Two races in coming weeks at Santa Anita will determine the horses to watch - Saturday's $75,000 Thunder Road Handicap and the $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile, a Grade 1, on March 3.
For now, trainer Julio Canani appears to have an outstanding team for those races.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Bad posts and bad bobs have combined to beat Naissance Royale in her last two starts, but she has an excellent chance to get back to the winner's circle on Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 3, $100,000 Suwannee River Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile grass race for older fillies and mares.
Three weeks ago at Delta Downs, the 7-year-old warrior Cort's P.B. fended off a talented, lightly raced horse named Tensas Phone Call to win the $40,000 Cypress Stakes by a nose. But another youngster with an apparently bright future, Brother Bean, awaits Saturday night in the $100,000 Premier Night Sprint at Delta.
