SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As well as Bluegrass Cat was running last year, when he won three straight races, including two stakes, jockey John Velazquez felt the horse still had more to give.
"I always said he ran really good races, but not to his full potential," Velazquez said Wednesday morning. "I thought all the time if he ever gets to put everything together he'd be a really good horse."
ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields steps into the future Friday when it begins its 36-day fall meeting.
The 2006 allocation of racing dates gave the track late summer and early fall dates for the first time in its history, and the track's general manager, Robert Hartman, is unveiling new wagering and promotional opportunities in hopes of attracting fans not used to live racing here in August and September.
Historically, the early fall dates have been run at Bay Meadows.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ian Wilkes will be the first to admit he never envisioned the rapid success he has had since striking out on his own in January after spending the previous 13 years working as an exercise rider and assistant to trainer Carl Nafzger.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - An evenly matched field of six 2-year-olds will line up Friday afternoon at Louisiana Downs in the $50,000 Minstrel Stakes at six furlongs.
L'Grande d'Oro, last seen winning against maiden special weight company at Churchill Downs in late May, may be a slight favorite in a field that does not include a stakes winner. Before his maiden win, L'Grande d'Oro finished second and third in maiden races at Keeneland in April.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Healthy Addiction, the winner of three stakes this year, will miss the $200,000 Palomar Breeders' Cup Handicap at Del Mar on Sept. 2 because of an abscess in her throat, trainer John Sadler said.
Healthy Addiction missed four days of training from Sunday through Wednesday this week, but was expected to return to training this weekend after undergoing treatment.
The decision to pass the Palomar is likely to lead Healthy Addiction to make her next start in the $250,000 Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Oct. 1.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It certainly took a while, but Raw Power finally seems to be delivering on his early promise at age 6.
On Saturday, Raw Power will be looking to reach a new plateau when he seeks his first stakes victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 Play the King Handicap at Woodbine.
"Right from day one, I've always thought a lot of him," said Barbara Minshall, trainer and part-owner of Raw Power. "It's been a test of our patience to get over the things that were bothering him. But we waited it out, and he's really come to hand."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Very fast interior fractions certainly had a lot to do with Storm Forcast's upset win in the $55,850 Cover Girl Handicap at Hastings on Saturday. With Frank Fuentes aboard, Storm Forcast was still last when the field turned for home, but she rallied between horses to edge April Foolish by a head, finishing the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17.30. Storm Forcast paid $14.85, and for her trainer, Dino Condilenios, it was a very profitable day.
DEL MAR, Calif. - This has been a career-defining year for Memorette, a 4-year-old filly trained by Bill Currin. She won her first graded stakes in the Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park in June and won a stakes against statebreds back in April.
This fall, Currin is hoping that Memorette can become a Grade 1 winner in the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Oak Tree at Santa Anita in October. He has chosen Friday's $85,000 CTT and TOC Handicap over 1 3/8 miles on turf at Del Mar as a prep.
After Frank Calabrese, the perennial leading owner at Arlington Park, successfully negotiated to buy a filly named Formal Rush, trainer Wayne Catalano liked what he saw when he began training her on a daily basis.
Sure enough, Formal Rush won at first asking at Arlington, and now the Calabrese-Catalano juggernaut has another live bullet at their disposal. Formal Rush figures as a prime contender in a full field of fillies and mares in a $31,000 second-level allowance that serves as the featured event Friday at the Arlington Heights, Ill., track.
