Trainer Greg Gilchrist calls Smokey Stover "the most over-trained 3-year-old in California."
A 3-year-old gelding, Smokey Stover has run four times since he won his debut by 2 1/2 lengths Feb. 12. He has never been worse than second, and he won a stakes in his third start, the Stinson Beach on April 2.
But after that stakes victory, Gilchrist gave Smokey Stover 12 works before finding a race for him at Del Mar nearly four months later.
Westsideclyde seeks his sixth victory of the meeting in the $20,000 Colterkind starter handicap on Sunday's closing-day card at Emerald Downs. A one-mile race, the Colterkind drew a field of 10 horses who have started for $15,000 or less in 2005-06.
The Colterkind is one of six starter handicaps Sunday whose purses have been enhanced by the Stanislaw Ashbaugh law firm. Together, the races form the Stanislaw Ashbaugh Claiming Challenge, which is designed to reward claiming horses, the backbone of most race meets.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shillelagh Slew will try to nail down this year's Sovereign Award for Canadian champion 3-year-old in Sunday's Grade 3, $200,000 Ontario Derby at Woodbine.
After ending up fifth in the June 25 Queen's Plate, Shillelagh Slew took the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, by disqualification. He was third here on the grass in the final race of the series, the Breeders' Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shillelagh Slew will try to nail down this year's Sovereign Award for Canadian champion 3-year-old in Sunday's Grade 3, $200,000 Ontario Derby at Woodbine.
After ending up fifth in the June 25 Queen's Plate, Shillelagh Slew took the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, by disqualification. He was third here on the grass in the final race of the series, the Breeders' Stakes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland Racecourse opened its newly renovated main track for training on Friday morning, attracting approximately 200 horses whose trainers and riders were eager to test out its synthetic surface and new contours just one week before the track opens its fall meet.
"I'm like a kid with a new toy," said jockey Robbie Albarado, after working three horses over the track. "I can't wait for the races to start."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Ashkal Way, who has been a pleasant surprise for the Goldolphin Stable of Sheikh Mohammed this year, bids for a second straight graded stakes victory Saturday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Kelso Breeders' Cup Stakes on the turf at Belmont Park.
The one-mile Kelso, with a 4:15 p.m. Eastern post time, starts the NTRA National Pick 4, which offers a guaranteed $400,000 pool. The four races - the Kelso, the Kentucky Cup Classic, the Yellow Ribbon, and the Clement Hirsch Turf Championship - will be telecast live by ESPN from 4-6 p.m.
Larry Goulding, the chief clocker and official photographer at Hastings, died Monday of cancer. He was 49.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in the George Royal Room at Hastings.
Born in Winnipeg, Goulding was raised in Southern California but moved to Vancouver in 1976 and took his first racetrack job as a groom for trainer Mel Snow. He later worked as an assistant to trainer Mike Drozdowski, and his charges included Barbex, a multiple stakes winner in the mid-1980's.
Carolina Sky ran well enough on dirt, but when she moved to turf she stepped up her game considerably and on Saturday will be favored to win her fifth straight race in the $100,000 River Cities Breeders' Cup at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.
The race is the meet's richest turf offering for fillies and mares, and it will be run at about 1 1/16 miles. Others in the field include Due to Win Again, who is the two-time defending champ, More than Promised, and Rue des Reves.
High Strike Zone, who set a track record at six furlongs this spring, will cut back to that distance Saturday night for the $40,000 J.R. Straus Memorial at Retama. High Strike Zone won an Evangeline allowance in a record 1:08.80 in March.