OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Dale Romans hopes to replace the void in his barn left by retired sprinter Sharp Humor with Will He Shine, who makes his stakes debut in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct.
Will He Shine will go up against a solid group of sprinters in the six-furlong Gravesend, including graded stakes winners Bishop Court Hill, Judiths Wild Rush, and Santana Strings. Sunday's card will be the last day of racing at Aqueduct until Dec. 27.
Calder track management has barred jockey Rene Douglas from the grounds for an unspecified reason, notifying Douglas of the action during Friday's card.
"Calder Race Course has refused Rene Douglas access to the racetrack for an indefinite period of time as of the close of business on Friday based on our rights as a private property owner," said Calder's president, Ken Dunn. "We have no further comment on the matter at the moment."
Douglas also refused to comment on the situation when reached in the paddock just before Friday's last race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It's not hard to understand owner Bruce Golden's obsession with the 8-year-old sprinter Spooky Mulder.
With lightning quick speed and a heart the size of a skyscraper, Spooky Mulder has won 28 races from 70 starts in a six-year career spent in several different barns. Golden has claimed Spooky Mulder on three occasions, most recently last month when he took him for $75,000 off Pat Reynolds. On the two previous occasions that Golden has owned him, Spooky Mulder has won 12 races from 28 starts.
Latenite Special can surpass the $500,000 mark in earnings Sunday with a win in the $125,000 New Mexico Racing Commission Handicap at Sunland Park, but the task will not be easy. Idle for five months, she gives up recency to almost all 10 of her rivals in the six-furlong race for New Mexico-bred fillies and mares.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Longtime trainer Frank Kirby has been elected president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, replacing Joe Kasperski, who was voted out in an election conducted by mail this month.
Kirby said Friday that he would name Greg Szymski the new executive director of the ITHA to replace Justin Cassity, who took over two years ago for Bob Fritz. Szymski, however, said he had accepted the appointment on an interim basis, and didn't know if he would be among the candidates for the permanent position.
NEW ORLEANS - Well Said turned in an exceptional performance last Sunday at Fair Grounds in his first race back since the Gradeo3 Rebel at Oaklawn Park last March. His powerful score at a mile and 40 yards over Red Raymond, who beat him in the Rebel, gave trainer Walter Bindner Jr. plenty to smile about.
STICKNEY, Ill. - To win last Saturday's Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante - and win it they did - trainer Richard Hazelton and owner Richard Radke needed their 2-year-old filly Copper State to improve in her first two-turn try. In this Saturday's Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity, they only need Caruso to hold serve.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There is plenty of debate over the nation's champion 3-year-old filly, but at the beginning of the year, the pro-tem leader was clear-cut. Balance was unquestionably on top, with victories in the Las Virgenes Stakes and Santa Anita Oaks. But she was upset in the Ashland Stakes, then chipped her left front ankle in the Kentucky Oaks. She has not raced since.
Chief Export will try to tack on a small measure of consolation to what has been a bittersweet and unforgettable year for the Bradley family when he runs as one of the prime contenders Saturday in the $50,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes at Turfway Park.
MIAMI - What Saturday's $200,000 La Prevoyante Handicap lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality with Royal Highness, Safari Queen, and Barancella among the six fillies and mares entered to go 1 1/2 miles in the Grade 2 event at Calder.
Safari Queen and Royal Highness finished a half-length apart as the first two finishers in the Grade 2 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 4.