OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct canceled its live racing card on Thursday because of concerns over the main track. It was the third cancellation in the first 12 days of the fall meet.
More than two inches of rain fell during the races Wednesday and the water got into the cushion of the track, creating an uneven surface on Thursday morning, officials said.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Slewpast looks like a standout in a field of six in the feature race at Hastings Saturday. Trained by Robbie Anderson, Slewpast is coming off of a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Ballerina Breeders' Cup, and she'll certainly appreciate the lesser company she'll be facing in this 1 1/16-mile allowance race, which is restricted to fillies and mares that have not won a stakes in 2006.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. Slam Bammy gets another crack at his favorite track Friday night in the $69,000 Rutgers University Stakes going six furlongs at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
The 5-year-old gelding is 3-1-0 in 4 starts over the Big M strip, which plays host to harness racing most of the year.
Nobody else likes it in the barn but him, said trainer Joe Orseno. The surface agrees with him. It does bring the best out of him. Maybe hes really a trotter at heart.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Star Parade, a six-time stakes winner, has been retired and will be sold at the Keeneland January mixed sale, trainer Darrell Vienna said on Wednesday.
Star Parade, 7, finished fifth in the Grade 2 Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Oct. 1 in her final start. An Argentine-bred, she ended her career with 9 wins in 35 starts and earnings of $1,226,719.
CHICAGO - Todd Pletcher does not have even one horse for the six Illinois-bred stakes races on tap Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course. It is not that kind of day. Illinois-bred days in Chicago dole out big money to the little guy - $100,000 a pop in this case. And few on the circuit are operating on a smaller scale than trainer George King, who has started only 26 horses in 2006. King has managed six wins, one-third of the total courtesy of a one-time maiden claimer named Zippy Slew, who actually has a shot Saturday in the High Alexander Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Distance will be a key theme at Aqueduct Friday, when Papua tries to stretch out to a mile in race 1, and a field of nine ventures two miles in race 8.
In many respects Papua is a stickout against six rivals in the opener, a $45,000 starter allowance open to New York-breds that have started for a claiming price.
But with the exception of a fourth-place check in the Damon Runyon as a 2-year-old, and a $1,440 payday finishing fifth in a two-turn allowance at Saratoga the following summer, the rest of Papua's $602,585 bankroll has been amassed in sprints.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Duane Offield is not one to claim a lot of horses. But he couldn't pass up the chance to take Colonel Courtney, who will make his first start for Offield in Friday's Bay Meadows feature, a $25,000 claimer at six furlongs.
Moving to a new barn is nothing new for Colonel Courtney, not to mention three of his four rivals. Only Double Jim has not been claimed in his career.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Perfect Drift, the venerable gelding who finished eighth when racing in the Breeders' Cup Classic for a record fifth straight time, was found afterward to have been hindered by a minor breathing ailment known as costochondritis and is through racing for the year.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There is nothing flashy about Cut Trail. A 4-year-old gelding trained by Neil Drysdale, Cut Trail has just one win in 14 starts and has been second or third in nine races.
But the consistency Cut Trail has shown frequently makes him a contender. In Friday's fifth race at Hollywood Park, Cut Trail is likely to be favored in a $46,000 allowance race over 1 1/16 miles on turf for statebreds.
Cut Trail is one of nine entrants in the race, which is part of an eight-race program that begins at 7:05 p.m. Pacific.
Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., is rebuilding the base of its one-mile track and resurfacing the oval. The project began Nov. 1 and is scheduled to be complete by Dec. 1, said Kelly Cathey, track operations manager for Will Rogers.