POMONA, Calif. - A good, anonymous field will try to prove that name recognition is overrated Sunday at Fairplex Park in a 1 1/8-mile stakes that is the richest open race of the 2006 Los Angeles County Fair meet.
Only two of the 10 entered in the $125,000 Ralph M. Hinds Handicap have won graded stakes. Does it matter? Not to bettors. It would be hard to find a more evenly matched field than the meet's top race for older horses. Find the winner and get paid.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Our Love will not be beaten this meet at Louisiana Downs. She has won all four of her scheduled starts here, and is now headed to Keeneland. Trainer Jeff Trosclair said Our Love is being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 First Lady for fillies and mares at a mile on turf Oct. 14.
The undefeated Win With a Wink will go after win number three in Saturday's Gimma for 2-year-old New York-bred fillies. A field of 10 was entered.P
By DAVID GRENING
ELMONT, N.Y. - The absence of leading New York-bred juvenile filly Chief Officer leaves Saturday's $100,000 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes a wide-open affair. A field of 10 was entered in the seven-furlong race restricted to statebreds.
POMONA, Calif. - Jet West is ready to run one of the best races of his career Sunday at Fairplex Park, and it might take just that to win the $65,000 Governor's Cup Handicap.
A salty field runs 6 1/2 furlongs in the Governor's Cup, race 10 on the card and a stronger race than the $125,000 Ralph M. Hinds Handicap on the same card. Nine entered the Governor's Cup. Though the status of Grade 1 winner Captain Squire was uncertain as of Friday, it will take a top effort to win regardless.
MIAMI - The red-hot team of owner Richard Averill and trainer Kirk Ziadie will attempt to continue their recent success when they send out Kaufy Machine as one of the choices in Sunday's $45,000 Whippleton Stakes.
Averill and Ziadie combined to win three races on Thursday's program, including the main event with Rgirldoesn'tbluff. They missed another winner earlier in the day when Ladyinblue was run down in the final furlong to finish second in a first-level allowance race.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Fabulous Strike was primed and ready for the City Zip Stakes at Monmouth Park until Tropical Depression Ernesto intervened.
Heavy rain and wind washed out the card on Sept. 2 and forced trainer Todd Beattie into a fallback option: the $60,000 Restoration Stakes on Sunday, closing day at Monmouth.
The City Zip and the Restoration are both 3-year-old sprint stakes with one major difference: the Restoration is a grass race.
Wait a While, the emphatic winner of the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park in July, will return to California for Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Stone Rain, a front-runner who in his last start earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 109, could face a significant amount of pace competition Sunday in the $150,000 Premier Breeders' Cup Stakes at Zia Park.
Still, trainer Billy Morey is confident in Stone Rain.
"I know there are a couple of speed horses in there," he said. "I know [Sweepingly], he's fast. So are we."
Emma-Jayne Wilson, last year's Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey, will be making her first trip to Hastings on Sunday, when she rides Ok Nothanksforaskn in the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby. Joining her from Woodbine will be Justin Stein, who has the mount on Head Chopper. Last year, Stein set a record for wins by an apprentice at Hastings before he moved his tack to Woodbine in the fall.
Wilson and Stein lost their apprentice allowances a few weeks ago. Wilson leads the Woodbine jockey standings with 92 wins through Thursday. Stein is third with 80 wins.
