SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Excessively Sweet, Saskatchewan's champion 2-year-old filly of 2005, returns to Marquis Downs following three starts this spring at Stampede Park and should be the prohibitive favorite in Friday's $6,000 Old Dutch Handicap.
Excessively Sweet, with a bankroll of $31,979, has earned more money than her five foes combined and may never be caught in the Old Dutch, a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.
AUBURN, Wash. - Canadian horses seemed to win every other stakes through the first few years of racing at Emerald Downs, but they have not been nearly so prominent at more recent meetings. They weren't, that is, until Sunday's running of the Irish Day Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at a mile.
Bandini, the multiple graded stakes-winning 4-year-old colt, will be forced to miss Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park because of filling in his right front leg, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Bandini, who won the Grade 3 Skip Away Handicap in April and finished fourth in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on Memorial Day, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.14 on Monday.
"He came out of his work with some filling in his right front leg," Pletcher said. "It doesn't seem like anything too serious at this point."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The inability of Japanese-based horses to be competitive in top American races ended emphatically last summer, when Cesario dominated the American Oaks at Hollywood Park.
Cesario became the first Japanese-bred and Japanese-trained horse to win a Grade 1 race in the United States. The victory earned Cesario so much respect that she was nominated for the Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding turf female from only the one American race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., who suffered a broken collarbone in a spill in Sunday's Cinema Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park, is likely to be out until the start of the Del Mar meeting on July 18, according to his agent, Michelle Barsotti.
Valdivia is scheduled to receive a further prognosis on Friday from Dr. James Tibone, who works closely with injured Southern California jockeys. Barsotti said Valdivia could return in time to work horses in the days before Del Mar opens.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the past year, Peaceful Love has undergone surgery to have bone chips removed from a knee, survived a bout of colic, and survived a battle with pneumonia.
To the delight of trainer Jeff Mullins and owner Michael House, Peaceful Love is back to being a racehorse this summer. Thursday at Hollywood Park, she makes her second start of 2006 in a $55,000 allowance race at a mile on turf. If she runs well Thursday, she could end up in stakes later this summer.
CHICAGO - With concerns still circulating about an unusually high number of breakdowns during races this meet, Arlington Park has taken measures to ensure the safety of its main track, but so far, no one has found anything amiss with the surface.
Arlington went so far as to close the main track for training Monday morning, but plans to pull back the top of the track and inspect the bottom layers had to be scrapped because of the weather.
The track reopened for regular training Tuesday, when 30 horses posted timed workouts over it.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Graded stakes winners Congrats, Gouldings Green, and Master Command are expected to run in the Grade 2, $300,000 Cornhusker Breeders' Cup Handicap on Saturday at Prairie Meadows, the highlight of the Iowa Festival of Racing. The festival kicks off Friday and runs through Tuesday, closing day of the 45-day Thoroughbred meeting at Prairie Meadows.
ELMONT, N.Y. - It is only a first-level allowance with a $46,000 purse, but considering the state of the 3-year-old filly division, Thursday's eighth race may open a window to the big time for either of the top contenders, perhaps both.
, a Stronach Stable homebred trained by Bobby Frankel, and Altesse, a regally bred daughter of A.P. Indy trained by Shug McGaughey, head the field of six, and drew, respectively, in posts 5 and 6 for the one-mile race.
On the inside, from the rail out, are Elliot's Exchange, Quippi, Generosity, and Raf and Ready.
Jockey Beverly Burress, 21, suffered a broken left arm after being unseated when her mount, Exclusive Clare, broke down entering the turn of Tuesday's second race at Prairie Meadows.
Burress was being treated at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines on Tuesday afternoon. Exclusive Clare suffered catastrophic injuries and was humanely destroyed. Burress, who lost her apprenticeship in June, is eighth in the Prairie standings with 22 wins.
