ELMONT, N.Y. - Out of desperation, trainer Jimmy Jerkens switched Lemon Drop Gal to the turf in June.
The 4-year-old filly perked up noticeably, winning 2 of 3 and scoring her first stakes win last time out in the Grab the Green Stakes at Saratoga.
Lemon Drop Gal bids for another stakes win Saturday in the $65,000 License Fee Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. - No horse in the United States has beaten The Tin Man this year.
Three starts have resulted in three stakes wins, including a front-running win in the Arlington Million in August. The Tin Man's only loss of 2006 was a second-place finish in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free Stakes in Dubai in March, and he earned $1 million for that.
Those accomplishments make The Tin Man a short-priced favorite to win the seventh stakes of his career in Saturday's $250,000 Clement Hirsch Turf Championship at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Five weeks from Saturday, Perfect Drift can make Breeders' Cup history by becoming the first horse to compete in the BC Classic for a fifth time.
But the 7-year-old gelding will first have to pass a critical test toward the BC Classic when he faces six other older horses in the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park.
Trainer Murray Johnson is confident that Perfect Drift, the likely favorite in the Grade 2 KC Classic, will snap a nine-race losing streak and leave little doubt that he deserves to return to the Breeders' Cup.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting began on Wednesday with increases in attendance and handle over the corresponding day in 2005.
Wednesday's nine-race program drew an ontrack crowd of 14,008, a gain of 47 percent over last year's audience of 9,489. The crowd was boosted by a promotion of free admission, parking, and Daily Racing Forms for members of the track's frequent-customer program.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Quint McCabe, who won the Grade 3 British Columbia Breeders' Cup Oaks with $49 longshot Real Candy last weekend, will try and pull off another upset with Destiny's Home in the $100,000 Sadie Diamond Futurity at Hastings on Saturday.
The owners of Destiny's Home, Mark and Patti Lesage and their three children, Sara, Nicole, and Christopher, would obviously like to win the Futurity. Nonetheless, they feel a memorable journey was already completed when Destiny's Home won a maiden special weight race Aug. 26.
CHICAGO ? Therecomesatiger was beaten only 3 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. Five horses finished in front of him, seven behind, which is really not bad for a 14-1 shot. But trainer Tom Proctor is not buying any sort of moral-victory argument.
?I thought he ran dull,? Proctor said. ?He ran all right, but he was never in the race, really. I don?t know if it was the trip or something. I thought it was a race to win.?
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Fort Erie has applied to the Ontario Racing Commission for 84 live racing dates for 2007. That is a reduction from the 104 days granted in both 2005 and 2006.
Revenue from the 1,200 slot machines in the adjoining casino at the track is down 30 percent this year. This source of revenue bankrolls approximately 75 percent of the purse account.
The dates request was made after discussions with the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
Gulfstream Park will tweak its 3-year-old stakes program in 2007 but won't be making any changes to its cornerstone event, the $1 million Florida Derby, which for the third straight year will be run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby.
The Florida Derby, to be run next year on March 31, is one of three Grade 1 races on Gulfstream's 2007 stakes schedule, which was announced Thursday. There are 45 stakes races on the schedule, including 31 graded stakes, and the total purses are worth $9.25 million. The 2007 Gulfstream meet opens Jan. 3.
Speed is an asset in the overwhelming majority of sprint races, but in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Kentucky Cup Sprint at Turfway, it could prove to be a detriment. At least half of the 12 3-year-old entrants in six-furlong Sprint are front-runners, seemingly setting the stage for a horse to rally successfully from off the pace.
The abundance of speed plays to the strengths of several stalkers in the field, led by the stakes winner Likely.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine has applied for 167 live Thoroughbred racing dates for 2007, one fewer than the 168 originally awarded for this year's meeting.
Woodbine's application to the Ontario Racing Commission requests that the meeting begin Saturday, March 31, and end Sunday, Dec. 9.
"We're actually running a little longer schedule," said Jim Ormiston, Woodbine's executive vice president and chief operating officer.