LOUISVILLE, Ky. - May Gator is not one of those racehorses who shows win after win in her past performances. She has won just once over her last 18 starts, a stretch dating back to the summer of 2004.
In Thursday's eighth race at Churchill Downs - a $68,000 allowance at a mile on turf - her suspect record appears forgivable. The race is restricted to horses who have not won $18,500 twice other than maiden, claiming, starter or statebred since Oct. 1.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Joey P. earned a trip to Florida with his convincing win Sunday in the Longfellow Stakes at Monmouth Park.
It won't exactly be a vacation. Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. has targeted the Grade 2, $500,000 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder on July 15 as the next start for the New Jersey-bred gelding.
It would be the first time Joey P., now 4, ventures beyond the New York-New Jersey region.
By the time he's finished, Steve Asmussen may need an entire wing of a large home to house the hardware he has been handed for winning training titles at racetracks across the country. And while Asmussen doesn't have a complete stranglehold on the trainers' race at the ongoing Lone Star Park meet, he sits five wins on top, and issues a reminder on Thursday's card of why he'll be so tough to topple: sheer numbers.
AUBURN, Wash. - Fans should make it a point to be punctual on Thursday, because the best race on the card at Emerald Downs is the opener. The first race is a $17,500 claiming event at 1 1/16 miles, and it has drawn an evenly matched field of six 4-year-olds.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Silver Highlight should be one of the shortest-priced favorites of the Woodbine meeting when she competes in Thursday's feature, a $62,500 optional claimer for fillies and mares.
Silver Highlight came here from England last summer and won her maiden in the Wonder Where Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian triple crown series for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies. She was a disappointment in her next two outings, finishing second in an allowance and fourth in the Carotene Stakes.
AUBURN, Wash. - R. Associate has found a home in trainer Vince Gibson's barn at Emerald Downs, but that doesn't mean he is suddenly averse to travel. That was the message from British Columbia-based owner Garth Weeks in the immediate aftermath of R. Associate's upset in Sunday's $75,000 Emerald Handicap at a mile, and Gibson confirmed as much Tuesday morning.
All-sources handle on live racing at the Stampede Park meet that ended Sunday declined from the 2005 meet, while wagering at Stampede on imported simulcasts showed a sharp increase.
The average total daily handle on Stampede's races was $210,159 over the 47-day 2006 meet, compared with $252,966 daily at the 45-day meet in 2005, a decrease of 16.9 percent.
Of that, an average of $99,073 was bet ontrack, a decrease of 12.8 percent from 2005.
Fourteen 3-year-olds are set to run 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 purses 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 Colonial after a post-position draw Monday. Stream Cat will start from post 2 and will be ridden by French apprentice Julian Leparoux.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - One Union was sidelined with a knee injury at an inopportune time in February.
He suffered a bone chip after winning a one-mile allowance race at Santa Anita, a race that trainer Richard Mandella and owner Herman Sarkowsky had hoped would be a prep to a major stakes on the Triple Crown trail.
One Union returns to racing on Wednesday at Hollywood Park in an optional claimer against older horses at six furlongs. Mandella is hoping to use Wednesday's race as a prep to a stakes later this summer.
