Thu, 12/28/2006 - 00:00

New Mexico-bred duo up to challenge

Arealstraitheart and Gotta Get can conclude an excellent year for New Mexico-breds competing against open horses when they start in the Grade 1, $400,000 The Championship over 400 yards at Sunland Park on Saturday afternoon.

Also on the card is $311,000 Shue Fly Stakes for New Mexico-bred juveniles.

A 3-year-old, Arealstraitheart has proven his mettle against Grade 1 open company the last two years, scoring a 1 3/4-length win in the Grade 1 All American Derby on Sept. 3 and finishing second by a neck in last year's Grade 1, $1.9 million All American Futurity.

Thu, 12/28/2006 - 00:00

Million Day gets a third graded stakes

The addition of the Grade 3, $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup to the Lone Star Million Day lineup and the creation of a prep day for that program were among the major changes to the track's 32-race, $3.4 million stakes schedule for 2007.

Lone Star has also renamed the Grade 3, $200,000 WinStar Distaff the Ouija Board Handicap in honor of the champion mare who won the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf this year at Churchill Downs and in 2004 at Lone Star.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Autrey's run just beginning

If you happened to catch the first few weeks of the Lone Star Park meet this past spring, you probably noticed that trainer Cody Autrey seemed to be winning, oh, 12 or 14 races a day. Now, it's happening at Fair Grounds.

With four wins in three racing days last week, Autrey brought his meet win total to 11, for a one-win lead over Tom Amoss in the trainer standings heading into this week's races.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Stormy Amber looks to get back on track

Stormy Amber, who had a three-race win streak snapped in her last start, looks set to return to her winning ways in the Prime Rewards, one of two $40,000 stakes at a mile to be run Friday at Delta Downs. The Prime Rewards (race 8) is for fillies and mares who have not won a stakes, and the Lookout (race 6) is for 3-year-olds and up with the same restriction.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Payson quarantine may be eased

MIAMI - Calder Race Course accepted entries on Wednesday for Saturday's Grand Slam III card from horses stabled at Payson Park in the hope that the quarantine of the training facility will be lifted before the weekend.

Payson Park was quarantined on Saturday after a horse trained by John Hennig died Friday from an illness symptomatic of equine herpesvirus. The results of an autopsy being performed at the University of Kentucky were not available as of Wednesday. Calder had not accepted entries from Payson horses since Saturday.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Ex-mates face off in route

Trainer Chris Block doesn't have a single horse entered in the nine races on Hawthorne's Friday racing program, but Block's fingerprints are all over the featured eighth race, an entry-level route allowance restricted to Illinois-breds.

Block and his family, who race their stock as Team Block, had an excellent 2006 season, with even more to look forward to next year. But they breed their own horses - occasionally buying a yearling prospect - with an eye toward allowance and stakes races. The fillies, if they're good enough, might be retired as broodmares.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

For Migliore, a new chapter opens

Charles Pravata/Horsephotos
Kip Deville and Richard Migliore win the Sir Beaufort Stakes on Santa Anita's opening day.

ARCADIA, Calif. - In a widely respected career of 4,199 victories at the top of the game through Tuesday's racing, Richard Migliore will remember his 4,199th as one of the sweetest.

The nuts and bolts were nothing extraordinary - a Grade 3 stakes event for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf, named for one of the more obscure big-race winners out West - but the setting and the circumstances were enough to send chills of excitement through Migliore's 42-year-old bones.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Four older horses hope for second wind

ARCADIA, Calif. - The older horses El Roblar, Lucky J.H., Surf Cat, and Wilko have been largely forgotten in recent months. Each of them won important races earlier in their careers, but layoffs from injuries - in the case of El Roblar, Lucky J.H., and Surf Cat - and a bout with colic for Wilko have kept them out of the spotlight recently.

But during the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, they could reemerge as horses to follow in a handicap division led by the dominant Lava Man.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Zito juveniles make a splash at Calder

MIAMI - Nick Zito is well known for numerous outstanding accomplishments during his training career, which ultimately resulted in his election two years ago into the Racing Hall of Fame. But until this past month, Zito was never known as the King of Calder.

Zito has become a dominant factor during the final month of the Tropical at Calder session. He has sent out eight winners from just 23 starters at the meet, and the majority of those victories have come with young, lightly raced juveniles gearing up for their 3-year-old campaigns this winter at Gulfstream Park.

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 00:00

Ferocious Fires tries to keep 2006 perfect

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The New York-bred Ferocious Fires will look to complete a well-managed and undefeated 3-year-old campaign on Friday when he heads a seven-horse field entered in a $48,000 third-level allowance race at Aqueduct.

The six-furlong race also carries an optional claiming tag of $75,000 for which three of the horses are eligible, including the gritty Spooky Mulder.