ELMONT, N.Y. - Having gotten little out of his race in the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga and with nothing seemingly amiss physically, Funny Cide will wheel back on short notice in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Brooklyn Breeders' Cup Handicap at Belmont Park.
Cornelio Velasquez worked Funny Cide five furlongs on Tuesday and though the final time of 1:02.36 was slower than the gelding normally works, Velasquez told trainer Barclay Tagg that everything went well.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Martin Ciresa has trained New York-bred stakes winners Presidential Affair and Little Matth Man. As talented as those two horses were, Ciresa said he believes he may have something truly special in Starcastic.
Following a 10 1/2-length debut win at Saratoga last month, the 3-year-old Starcastic will skip an allowance condition in his second career start Friday at Belmont Park. Starcastic will stretch out from 5 1/2 furlongs to one-mile in a second-level allowance race for New York-bred 3-year-olds and up.
POMONA, Calif. - The 4-year-old filly Adance is living proof that rags sometimes do become riches.
In just six months, Adance has gone from slow to fast - her Beyer Speed Figures in the high 50's are now Beyer Figures in the mid-90's. Gloomy winter losses in low-level claiming races have given gave way to sharp summer victories in allowance-caliber races.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne Race Course's fall-winter season features races with plenty of horses, but Chicago's gritty urban racing venue would like to have crowd size to match field size, and thus starts its 2006 season Friday boasting of revamped, fan-friendly facilities.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ad Valorem, winner of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot this June, checked in late Wednesday morning for his engagement in Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile.
A field of 13 was expected for the Woodbine Mile when the post positions were to be announced Thursday, and Ad Valorem is likely to be among the favorites.
Trained by Aidan O'Brien, Ad Valorem is coming into the Woodbine Mile off a fifth-place finish, beaten 4 1/4 lengths, in the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at one mile on soft going at Deauville on Aug. 13.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Trainer Ron Grieves would have preferred to see Bell n' Gone competing for a larger purse than the $22,500 offered in Friday's featured fifth race here at Northlands Park.
The $50,000 Beaufort, one of seven Alberta-bred stakes slated for Alberta Fall Classic Day here Sept. 23, would have looked appealing, but Bell n' Gone is Ontario-bred and shows up in the only spot available to him.
CHICAGO - Rain soaked the last days of Arlington Park's 2006 season. Some would contend a cloud hung over the track for most of a 95-day meet that concluded Tuesday. Attendance fell, handle declined markedly, and Arlington was plagued by negative publicity over a rash of catastrophic breakdowns.
Arapahoe posted a strong increase in handle for its 39-day 2006 meet, which ended on Sept. 4.
The total average daily handle on live races at Arapahoe was $116,870, a 24 percent increase over the $94,236 bet daily on Arapahoe races last year.
A release issued by the track Wednesday attributed the increase in handle to a switch from Friday racing to Mondays, giving the Aurora, Colo., track an increased simulcast presence. The 2006 meet was Arapahoe's first under the ownership of BLB Investors LLC, which acquired the track in July 2005.
MIAMI - Turf racing during the summer months in south Florida is always an iffy proposition at best, with many horses managing to bang out a pretty good living in races that were taken off the grass.
Several members of that particular club have been entered for Friday's $28,000 allowance feature at Calder, which is carded for turf but no cinch to actually be run on the grass.
Greeleylikealady, Silver Charity, Wicklow Vamp, Vue de Chat, and stablemates Meadow Ashlee and Your Quote have all profited from surface changes during the current meet.