ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile gained another probable entrant Tuesday, when trainer Bobby Frankel said Diamond Green would make the trip north from his base at Belmont Park.
The addition of Diamond Green brings the prospective field for the Woodbine Mile to 14. The lineup will be announced at a special post position draw here Thursday, beginning at noon in the trackside tent.
POMONA, Calif. - Little City got creamed two weeks ago in her comeback at Del Mar. She pressed a wickedly fast pace, surrendered, and finished next to last.
No problem.
With a prep race under her belt and a slower pace expected Thursday in the $65,000 Bustles and Bows Stakes at Fairplex Park, Little City should redeem herself by leading wire to wire in the 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies.
"I'm hoping she gets a softer pace," trainer Mike Harrington said. "Plus, she'll be fitter coming out of the other race. She'd been off a long time."
E.J. Perrodin and Patrick Mouton have emerged in the last few years as one of the highest win-percentage jockey-trainer teams in Louisiana. They went 2 for 3 on Sunday at Louisiana Downs, and with those victories surpassed their earnings together from the corresponding meet in 2005. The success is sweet, and even more so because they are family.
"Pat's my brother-in-law," said Perrodin. "We married sisters. We've got a good relationship. We work well together."
MIAMI - Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. has won 34 races during the current session, but none was more satisfying to him than B. B. Best's wire-to-wire triumph in Saturday's Ambehaving Stakes.
The Ambehaving was B. B. Best's first victory since he captured the In Reality division of the Florida Stallion Stakes nearly two years earlier. A son of Yes It's True,
ALBANY, Calif. - Thursday's Golden Gate Fields feature presents handicappers with a situation that requires more intuition than science.
The one-mile turf race for $16,000 claimers offers proven runners such as Julies Flying Now, who is 18-4-5-5 on the turf; Zim's Blur, who is 10-3-2-1 on turf; and Thermostatic, who is 33-9-3-5 on turf.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - A very strong closing card on Saturday, highlighted by the Saskatchewan Derby, helped cap off a strong Thoroughbred season at Marquis Downs, one that showed a slight increase in live handle over the 2005 meet.
The average daily handle on races at Marquis Downs was $28,671 for the 29-day 2006 meeting, an increase of 1.8 percent from the $28,107 daily average at the 28-day meeting in 2005. Marquis Downs does not export its races, which can be bet only ontrack.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The Godolphin-owned Afrashad, whose fourth-place finish in the A.G. Vanderbilt Breeders' Cup was one of the very few disappointments for the Maktoum family during the summer, drops to a $49,000 allowance/optional claiming sprint and looms the one to catch and beat in Thursday's eighth race at Belmont Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The durable 10-year-old Frank's Selection won his first race in three years when he beat $62,500 optional claiming opposition Aug. 18. He will try to double up at the same level in Wednesday's Woodbine feature at seven furlongs on the grass.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Greg Gilchrist was frustrated last week when the Alameda, a stakes in which he hoped to run his talented 2-year-old colt Vicarino, was canceled.
Gilchrist was not overly optimistic that his multiple stakes-winning filly Victorina would get to run this Saturday, but early indications are that the $50,000 Noe Valley Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, will attract enough entrants.