Gold Medal Jess, the Los Alamitos Winter Championship winner, and Be a Bono, the 2004 world champion and defending Vessels Maturity winner, were beaten in their trials but still figure as the dangerous horses in the Grade 1, $137,700 Vessels Maturity on Friday night at Los Alamitos.
The winner of the Vessels Maturity earns an invitation to the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 9 at Los Alamitos.
Hollywood Park will replace its dirt track with a synthetic surface known as Cushion Track, manufactured by Equestrian Surfaces of the United Kingdom, at the conclusion of the spring-summer Meet on July 16. The new track will be in place when the stable area reopens in September, and with the start of the 36-day autumn meet on Nov. 1, Hollywood Park will become the first California track to conduct races on a synthetic surface.
INGLEWOOD, Calif.- Brother Derek, the top 3-year-old male in California this year, is being pointed for the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 6, trainer Dan Hendricks said on Wednesday.
Brother Derek finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in May and resumed training last weekend after being given a one-month break.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It used to be one didn't have to venture beyond the Woodbine backstretch to find the winner of the Queen's Plate, the 1 1/4-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds that will be run here Sunday.
Even the odd successful shippers, such as Awesome Again in 1997 and Archers Bay in 1998, were horses owned by outfits that had strong ties to Woodbine. Awesome Again was owned by Frank Stronach and Archers Bay's majority owner was Eugene Melnyk.
But times are changing.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shillelagh Slew put the finishing touches on his preparations for Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate here at Woodbine on Tuesday, breezing five furlongs on the main track in 1:00.20 under regular rider Dino Luciani.
"He worked under a real nice hold, right on the bridle, and he galloped out real well," said Mike DePaulo, who trains Shillelagh Slew for David James.
"We're ready to go."
Shillelagh Slew is one of 13 expected to be entered on Thursday for the Queen's Plate, a 1 1/4-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Fourteen 3-year-olds are set to match up on Saturday at Colonial Downs in the $1 million Colonial Turf Cup, the first leg in a series sponsored by Colonial that promises a total of $5 million in purse and bonus money to any horse that can win four grass stakes.
Stream Cat, a multiple stakes winner on the turf for trainer Patrick Biancone, was made the favorite in the 1 3/16-mile Turf Cup after a post-position draw on Monday. Stream Cat will start from post 2 and will be ridden by the apprentice Julien Leparoux.
CHICAGO - Five horses entered in Arlington's Thursday feature are Monkey Hill, Private Horde, Wild Tale, Charging Indian, and Attack the Books, a fine group of allowance sprinters. And if form holds, all have little chance of winning. The other horse in the featured eighth is Fifteen Rounds, one of the finest one-turn horses in the region.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The 3-year-olds are sure to provide high drama as the rest of the season unfolds. To see an example of the division's depth look no further than Thursday's eighth race at Belmont Park, a first-level allowance at a mile. Flashy Bull will make his first start in the eighth since the Kentucky Derby, in which he broke from post 20 and beat six horses.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Quiet Kim was unable to make an impact in the top dirt stakes for 3-year-old fillies during the spring. She switches to turf Thursday at Hollywood Park, where she'll run in an optional claimer at a mile.
Quiet Kim is one of 11 3-year-old fillies entered in the seventh race. The field will be limited to 10 starters, with Star Voyager the lone filly on the also-eligible list. Quiet Kim, who will be ridden by leading rider Patrick Valenzuela, has drawn post 3.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A sense of relief has fallen over owner Don Van Kampen and trainer Jim Cassidy following Moscow Burning's recent workouts.
The millionaire mare bled when she finished third as the favorite in the Fran's Valentine Stakes at Hollywood Park on April 30, and the condition of her lungs has been a concern in the buildup to Saturday's $150,000 Beverly Hills Handicap.
Cassidy has worked Moscow Burning four times in the last month and reports no setbacks, a positive sign in advance of what will be Moscow Burning's toughest race of the year to date.
