Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Thor's Echo will have to deal with two familiar faces Saturday at Laurel Park in the $300,000 Frank De Francis Memorial Dash.
Nightmare Affair and Attila's Storm, who both finished within five lengths of Thor's Echo three weeks ago at Churchill Downs, are among the eight sprinters who will challenge the California-based Thor's Echo in his bid to nail down an Eclipse Award in the Grade 1 Dash.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Discretion was the better part of valor when Tiz Wonderful was withheld from the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The reward for resisting the temptation to try the colt against the best of his generation might well come Saturday when Tiz Wonderful goes postward as a solid favorite in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, the Grade 2 race for which entries were drawn Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Riverada should make some waves in Friday's Woodbine headliner, a 1o1/16-mile allowance for fillies and mares.
After struggling on the main track in her season opener, Riverada competed in five consecutive grass events. She won her maiden over seven furlongs Aug. 19, and wound up 10th after a wide journey in the Sept. 2 Ontario Colleen Stakes, but then rebounded with a third-place finish in a Sept.o21 allowance.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Owner-trainer Dave Cotey will be the first to admit that the 2006 racing season has not been one of his more memorable campaigns.
"We had a so-so start, then went downhill from there," said Cotey, 58, who races under the nom du course Dominion Blood-stock and has a majority interest in all of his stock.
"Some horses didn't pan out, some got hurt, but it wasn't so bad," he said. "We always manage to scratch our way through; we are over the $1 million mark. We're finishing up all right. We still have 20-some horses to start."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Del Mar announced on Tuesday that it intends to install a Polytrack synthetic surface for its 2007 meeting, but the project still must be approved by the California Coastal Commission.
The California Coastal Commission regulates land and water uses in areas near the coastline. Changes to coastline property require permits from the Coastal Commission.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Few horses had worse trips in the Breeders' Cup than Rob Roy, who broke slowly, was fanned widest of all entering the stretch, yet still finished fifth in the 14-horse field and was only a half-length away from second, all in his first start in this country.
The Mile marked his fourth attempt at a Grade 1 win this year. He's still seeking it. His search could end on Friday, though, when Rob Roy comes back just 20 days after the Breeders' Cup in the Grade 1, $400,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park.
MIAMI - If the nomination lists for the four stakes on the Dec. 1 Grand Slam I card are any indication, the final five weeks of the 2006-07 Tropical at Calder meeting should be good ones.
Grand Slam I consist of four stakes worth $100,000 apiece, including the Grade 3 Tropical Turf and Grade 3 My Charmer handicaps on the grass. Two-year-olds get their chance to earn big paydays in the What a Pleasure and Three Ring stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Green Monkey, who sold for a world-record $16 million at the Fasig-Tipton 2-year-olds in training auction earlier this year, has been sent to his owner's farm in Kentucky and won't make it to the races until next year.
But is that fair? This is about as good as racing gets: 12 handicap runners, including two Breeders' Cup holdovers and five 2006 graded stakes winners, will clash Friday in the 132nd running of the $500,000 Clark.
This is the first year the Clark has been upgraded to Grade 1 status, and the depth of the field suggests the raise was justified.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Short on experience but long on talent, Mo Cuishle looks to remain undefeated when she faces her sternest test to date in Friday's Grade 2, $150,000 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct.
A daughter of Saint Ballado, Mo Cuishle won her first three starts by a combined 15 lengths, including a 7 1/4-length score in the Grade 3 Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks on Aug. 13. An illness has kept her from the races since, but she has been training steadily since early October.
