SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Allen Jerkens will attempt to do Saturday what he has done best throughout his Hall of Fame training career: win an important race when he's not expected to.
Jerkens will send out the uncoupled entry of Miss Shop and Teammate in Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga. Jerkens has won the Alabama three times, including two years ago with Society Selection.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Lonnie Meche didn't have a shot to finish his breakfast on a recent morning at Louisiana Downs. His twin brother, Donnie, and his younger brother, Cody, whizzed around him as he was eating. Donnie took sips of his Gatorade, and Cody ate a portion of his sandwich. And that is how it has been in the standings here, too, with Donnie and Cody whizzing around second-leading rider Lonnie Meche.
Jim Gaston has broadened the scope of his involvement in Louisiana racing. Not only is he a trainer winning races at a 25 percent rate at Louisiana Downs and a 32 percent clip at Evangeline Downs, but he also has entered the breeding market. Gaston has imported the stallion A.P. Delta to Louisiana, and he and his wife, Rene, have purchased a handful of broodmares, bringing them in from Kentucky and Florida.
CHICAGO - The passing of Arlington Million Day marks the end of Arlington's Summer Festival of Racing and its modestly increased purse structure. Now comes Arlington's final segment, and though Kentucky horses that weren't sent to Saratoga still will start here, this meet eases back into a Chicago-circuit affair as it winds down.
Golden Gate Fields will run nine stakes, including the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap, during its fall meeting, which begins Aug. 25.
The track, which came under fire from horsemen during the spring when it cut overnight stakes purses from $50,000 to $40,000, has reinstituted $50,000 purses for overnight stakes. The nine stakes are worth a total of $625,000.
"We talked with trainers and worked closely with the Thoroughbred Owners of California and decided $50,000 was right for stakes in California," said Robert Hartman, Golden Gate's general manager.
AUBURN, Wash. - An evenly matched field of eight fillies and mares, each eligible to be claimed for $12,500, will vie over six furlongs on Thursday as Emerald Downs kicks off a week of activities that will climax with Sunday's 71st running of the Grade 3 Longacres Mile.
Three of the entrants in Thursday's feature are exiting a race run under the same conditions at 5 1/2 furlongs on July 27.
Laurel L, trained by Jose Navarro, showed the way in that race before settling for second behind Pretty Josette in 1:03.80.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The unbeaten Wild Rex steps into stakes company for the first time Thursday in the $60,000 Anderson Fowler Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters at Monmouth Park.
The Anderson Fowler was originally scheduled for Sunday but failed to fill. The race office brought the stakes back with better results.
Wild Rex faces six rivals, including stablemate Cucina Nick from Michael Pino's Delaware Park stable.
A son of Wild Event, Wild Rex looks to extend his win streak to four in the 5 1/2-furlong stakes.
Luis Garcia never had won a riding title, but his name sat atop the standings as the 41-day Colonial Downs meet was nearing a close last weekend. Garcia faced a serious dilemma: Should he ride the last two programs to protect his narrow lead, or serve as the best man at the weddings of two of his best friends?
Garcia, 21, chose to leave Colonial in New Kent, Va., for the final two days of racing last Friday and Saturday, returning to Maryland to be the best man for fellow jockeys Eric Camacho and Richard Monterrey.
His decision paid off in both ways.
Okey Dokey Fantasy, who scored a dead-heat win in the Ruidoso Futurity, and the two other Grade 1 futurity winners during the Ruidoso Downs season are among the 162 entrants who will run Thursday at Ruidoso in the 17 trials to the Grade 1, $2,050,000 All American Futurity.
The two other futurity winners in the 440-yard trials are Saint Shackleton, who shared the dead-heat win in the Ruidoso Futurity, and Big Time Hero, who won the Rainbow Futurity.
