Mr. Trieste will start for new owners on Saturday when he defends his title in the $60,000 Veterans at Zia Park. R.D. Hubbard and Jim Helzer purchased Mr. Trieste for an undisclosed sum following his most recent start, and have made plans to stand him at their JEH Stallion Station in Hondo, N.M.
"We're going to run him through the remainder of the year, and then he's going to go to the breeding shed," said Helzer.
CHICAGO - The Christine Janks barn is known more as an Arlington outfit than one for Hawthorne, and 2006 provided no exception, with Janks especially strong over the summer in Chicago's northwest suburbs - Arlington country. But if you had to pick one trainer with a shot at a huge day on Saturday at Hawthorne - the site of six $100,000 stakes for Illinois-breds - it probably would be Janks.
Total all-sources handle on the eight Breeders' Cup races Saturday at Churchill Downs was $134,357,846, a record and a 15.4 percent increase over the previous record set last year, according to figures released on Thursday.
The increase was the largest one-year gain since 1999, when wagering increased 16.2 percent. Earlier this year, the Breeders' Cup board endorsed a plan that set a goal for wagering on the event to increase to $200 million by 2010.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct's main track, often hailed as one of the safest surfaces in America, has problems. And with the New York Racing Association in dire straits financially, the problems are not readily correctible.
Though it was 68 degrees and sunny on Thursday, Aqueduct was forced to cancel its live racing card because of an uneven racing surface caused by heavy rains Wednesday. It was the third cancellation in the first 12 cards of the fall meet. One of those previous cancellations was due to high winds.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario Kentucky invader Soul Search will get some significant class relief when she contests the $175,000 Maple Leaf Stakes for fillies and mares Saturday at Woodbine.
Soul Search was a distant third behind Fleet Indian and Balletto in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes in August at Saratoga. After winning a Sept. 10 classified allowance at Turfway, she was second in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland, behind Asi Siempre, who was disqualified from second and placed fourth in last Saturdays Breeders Cup Distaff.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jason Servis hopes to conclude another successful Meadowlands Racetrack meet with a flourish on Saturday night.
Servis heads into closing weekend a virtual lock to win a second-straight Big M training title. He won three consecutive races Wednesday night to open an 18-9 lead over five trainers - J. Willard Thompson, Patricia Farro, Jim Ryerson, Peter Walder, and Greg Sacco.
CHICAGO - Horsemen throughout the country take at least a passing gander at the Breeders' Cup program, and Chicago people surely noticed Wiggins's name among the entries in the Ack Ack Handicap, one of two stakes on Churchill Downs's Breeders' Cup undercard. Those with an older horse being pointed to Saturday's High Alexander Handicap were hoping - really hoping - Wiggins would actually start in the race.
"I saw he was in last weekend, and we were just praying he'd run down there in Kentucky," said George King, who trains High Alexander starter Zippy Slew.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Cambiocorsa, a multiple-stakes-winning turf sprinter, will try to stretch her speed over a mile on turf in the $500,000 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 26, trainer Doug O'Neill said Thursday.
O'Neill said it was "70-30" that Cambiocorsa would start in the Grade 1 Matriarch, which is expected to draw a top-class field.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Nakaba was dismissed at 12-1 when she won her U.S. debut in an allowance race at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting last month. She will not be such a tasty price when she starts in Saturday's $60,000 Hermosa Beach Handicap at Hollywood Park.
A group stakes winners in Brazil in 2005, Nakaba is well suited to the marathon distance of 1 1/2 miles on turf in the Hermosa Beach, which drew six entrants. The other top contenders include the stakes winner Aubonne, and Naughty Rafaela, a rival of Nakaba's in Brazil.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - The world of horse racing is one of the few places where a person can go shopping in the bargain basement and still come up with a treasure.
A pair of bargain-basement purchases, Secret Scheme and Bai and Bai, have their chance to shine in Saturday's $55,000 Palo Alto Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf.