Street Sense, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, is among the 149 early bird nominees to the 2007 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. The 55th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby will be held on March 31.
All early nominees become eligible for not only the Florida Derby but also for several other important preps leading up to the race this winter at Gulfstream Park, including the Swale and Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 3 and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 3.
NEW ORLEANS - Badtotheboneandrew, winner of last year's Louisiana Champions Day Classic when it was held at Louisiana Downs, will attempt to capture that $150,000 event again Saturday when he faces 10 rivals in the featured race on Champions Day at Fair Grounds.
The day's 11 stakes races offer a combined $1.1 million in purses, the most Fair Grounds has ever offered on a single program.
The inaugural running of the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint at six furlongs augments this 16th edition of Champions Day.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer was taken aback when weight assignments for Saturday's $100,000 California Distaff Turf Handicap were assigned.
Somethinaboutlaura was assigned 128 pounds, a huge impost in racing today, but Hollendorfer nonetheless plans to run his star in the one-mile turf race for California-bred fillies and mares. Seven entered the race, with Eclipse Winner coupled in the wagering with Somethinaboutlaura.
"Maybe we got a couple runners because she was carrying 128," Bay Meadows racing secretary Tom Doutrich said.
In one sense, Apollitical Time's preparation for Saturday's $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos has been flawless. She has won her last five starts, including the prestigious Los Alamitos Championship in October.
In another way, the buildup has been a mess. Trainer Juan Aleman cannot keep a jockey for the brilliant 4-year-old filly.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - While Sunday's $125,000 Valedictory Handicap is shaping up as a confrontation between True Metropolitan and Last Answer, there will be an interesting invader to add spice to the mix in the closing-day feature here at Woodbine.
Marsh Side, trained in Maryland by Michael Dickinson, checked into Woodbine on Wednesday and took up temporary residence in the barn of trainer Roger Attfield.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When the ex-claimer Symphony Sid led by as many as 10 lengths midway through the Grade 3 Carleton Burke Handicap at Santa Anita in October, it seemed impossible that the runaway strategy would lead to a win over 1 1/2 miles on turf.
But his six rivals were unable to make a dent, giving Symphony Sid his first stakes win in a race he won by 5 1/2 lengths.
In Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Hollywood Park, Symphony Sid will try the same tactics, but this time a better field will be chasing him over 1 1/2 miles on turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - An improving Strathclyde could find the mark in Saturday's competitive fifth race, a $62,500 allowance and optional claimer going 1 1/4 miles.
Saturday's 10-race card, on the penultimate day of the Woodbine meeting, attracted a whopping 137 entries, including 10 also-eligibles.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Fernando Jara is expected to work out a deal with his current agent, Randy Romero, to free him from an existing contract and plans to ride this winter in south Florida with Gatewood Bell as his agent.
Jara, who won the Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic and earned $8.6 million in purses with Romero as his agent this year, will ride in New York through Dec. 17 before taking some time off to return home to Panama. It is expected he will begin riding when Gulfstream Park opens on Jan. 3.
Many of the bigger stables on the Kentucky circuit keep a string locally during the winter while sending their best horses elsewhere. At times, the players are interchangeable, depending on which horses fit what races best.
Ken McPeek has yet to decide whether Moon Berry will be better off joining his 27-horse contingent at Gulfstream Park or remaining behind with the balance of the stable at McPeek's farm, located next to the Victory Haven training center in Lexington, Ky. He will get a better idea Saturday when Moon Berry runs in the $50,000 My Charmer Stakes at Turfway Park.
