Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Declan's Moon returns in allowance

Horsephotos
On Sunday, Declan's Moon will race for the first since he won the Santa Catalina (above) in March 2005.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Declan's Moon, the champion 2-year-old male of 2004, makes a long-awaited comeback from injury in an allowance race at Hollywood Park on Sunday.

Trainer Ron Ellis and owner Samantha Siegel say Declan's Moon has trained well enough in recent weeks to keep his unbeaten record intact.

Declan's Moon is entered in an optional claimer at 6 1/2 furlongs, the first race on the final day of the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting. Declan's Moon drew post 4 and has four opponents - Yes He's a Pistol, Desert Boom, Seattle Buddy, and Areyoutalkintome.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Grade 1's start meet with bang

Led by four Grade 1 stakes on its first two weekends, the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting will feature 28 stakes. The meet runs from Sept. 27 to Oct. 29.

Three of the Grade 1 races are being run on Sept. 30 and two of them have had their purses altered. The purse for the Yellow Ribbon Stakes, for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf, has been cut from $500,000 to $400,000. The purse for the Oak Leaf Breeders' Cup Stakes has been increased $50,000, to $250,000. The Oak Leaf, promoted from a Grade 2 since last year, is run for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Trial filled with new shooters

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - New faces figure to be prominent in Sunday's $40,000 Derby Trial Stakes, with four of the eight 3-year-olds in the field making their first start here at Assiniboia Downs. The Max, Vanilla Scoop, Boulder Hat, and Brooklands will each make his first local appearance in the 1 1/16-mile Derby Trial.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Go Robin seeks her first stakes win in Politely

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Go Robin landed in Mark Hennig's barn by mistake. She is still there, and winning races.

Go Robin will try for her first stakes victory Sunday at Monmouth Park in the $60,000 Politely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. The Politely serves as the prep for the Grade 3, $150,000 Matchmaker Stakes here on Aug. 6.

Go Robin has been on a solid roll this season with 3 wins in 5 starts. She tackled one stakes this year, the Hollywood Wildcat Breeders' Cup at Calder on April 29, where she flattened out in the lane to finish fourth.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Grass looks greener to Von Hemel

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Brownie Points is a multiple stakes winner on dirt and has been racing on the main track for much of the year. But she is also a stakes winner on turf and will likely be moving back to the grass in the near future, said her trainer, Donnie Von Hemel.

Her main fall objective, he said, is on the turf. Von Hemel is pointing Brownie Points for the $200,000 Marie P. DeBartolo Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 23.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Nicks bags four wire-to-wire winners

BOSSIER CITY, La. - The temperature hit triple digits in the Bossier City area on Thursday, but trainer Morris Nicks was even hotter. Nicks sent out four winners on the afternoon, beginning with Dixie Tree in the fourth race of the day.

Breaking alertly under Lonnie Meche, who was aboard three of Nicks's winners, Dixie Tree ($5.80) soon cleared the seven allowance foes to his inside and cruised to a nine-length victory, finishing six furlongs in 1:09.43 over a fast track. The victory was Dixie Tree's third from six starts.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Ohio Smile right back in Hoover off a win

By virtue of a three-length win in an open maiden in his debut, Ohio Smile will be deserving of favoritism when he takes on nine Ohio-bred juvenile rivals in the $40,000 Hoover Stakes at River Downs at 5 1/2 furlongs.

Ohio Smile, a son of the undefeated Gold Case, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 59 for his maiden win, the highest among the Hoover entrants. Bettors, though, will have a couple of issues to consider before settling on the favorite.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Lincoln: My Secret Star has experience

My Secret Star, a strong maiden winner here on July 7, heads a field of eight 2-year-olds going six furlongs in the $25,000-added Capitol City Futurity, the closing day feature of Lincoln's 37-day season.

My Secret Star, trained by Milton Gaede, has a strong experience advantage over this field, as he will be making his fifth career start. He made a pair of five-furlong starts at Prairie Meadows, where he was fourth and third, and has been second and then a winner in his most recent start here.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Tough call, but Wilson picks 'Sophie'

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - For the past couple of weeks, jockey agent Herb Ollive has been trying to convince Janet Armstrong, who trains Sophie's Trophy, and Barb Heads, the trainer of Excited Miss, to take different paths with their respective 3-year-old fillies. Ollive, who books mounts for Dave Wilson, was hoping that one of them would run in the $100,000 Northlands Oaks on July 22 instead of squaring off against each other in the Emerald Downs Handicap at Hastings on Sunday.

Fri, 07/14/2006 - 00:00

Cascade Rose justifying price tag

AUBURN, Wash. - Sunday's six-furlong Angie C. Stakes for 2-year-old fillies is the first stakes at the meeting for juveniles, so it is almost by definition a wide-open affair.