INGLEWOOD, Calif. - , the winner of the Grade 1 Triple Bend Handicap last summer, makes his 2006 debut in Wednesday's seventh race at Hollywood Park, a program that also features a pick-six carryover of $167,242.
Trainer David Bernstein said Unfurl the Flag "is acting like his old self" in preparation for his comeback, but he is taking a cautious approach to Wednesday's race at 6 1/2 furlongs. The goal is to have Unfurl the Flag ready for a start in the Triple Bend Handicap on July 2.
CALGARY, Alberta - Desmond Bryan was a man on a mission at Stampede Park on Saturday aboard Braetta in the 1 1/16-mile Duchess of York.
"We should have won last time but we got blocked making our move," said Bryan, referring to the wild finish of the Ken Pearson Memorial at Stampede on May 22.
Braetta finished a neck behind Wild Bender that day, dead-heating for place with Stole One.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As good a weekend as the Maktoum family had at Belmont Park, it may only be a harbinger for the major races this summer and fall.
Led by Jazil's victory in Saturday's Belmont Stakes for Sheikh Hamdan bid Rashid al Maktoum's Shadwell Stable, the Maktoum family won seven races at Belmont between Friday and Sunday, including graded stakes scores by Songster in the Woody Stephens and Dubai Escapade in the Vagrancy. The latter two victories came for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Darley Stable. Sheik Mohammed is the younger brother of Sheikh Hamdan.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park's leading trainer, Doug O'Neill, had a starter test in excess of the permitted level of bicarbonates, or total carbon dioxide, at Hollywood last month, an infraction likely to result in a penalty from the California Horse Racing Board.
As a result of the test findings, O'Neill's runners will be confined to a prerace detention barn for 24 hours during a 30-day period from Wednesday through July 13. For a 15-day period beginning on July 14, O'Neill's stable will be subject to surveillance from the racing board.
STOCKTON, Calif. - Northern California's two-month summer caravan begins Wednesday when the San Joaquin County Fair opens the fair racing season.
There are six stops on the circuit, with visits to Pleasanton, Vallejo, Santa Rosa, San Mateo, and Ferndale scheduled before racing returns to Golden Gate Fields on Aug. 24. The Big Fresno Fair will conduct racing in October.
The big news at Stockton is the revival of the Swepida Stakes for the first time this decade. The 5 1/2-furlong, $40,000 overnight stakes is scheduled for June 24.
CHICAGO - Creeker's Surprise has been doing that dance that derails so many racehorses - one step forward, two steps back. The 5-year-old mare brings four layoff lines into the featured eighth race at Arlington Park on Wednesday, and though she looks good enough to win it, one has to wonder just where this mare's development is at when she makes her first start since early January.
"I have questions," trainer Jerry Calvin said.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Icy Atlantic stole the Battlefield Stakes and the improving Quite a Bride scored her third straight win in the Trenton Stakes on an all-turf card Monday at The Meadowlands Racetrack.
The eight-race program was run on a course listed as yielding at the start but upgraded to good for the third race. The first four races were run with a temporary rail set at 17 feet; the last four, including both $60,000 stakes, were run against the permanent fence.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Buzzards Bay is coming to the Stephen Foster Handicap. Trainer Ron Ellis decided Sunday that circumstances were right to send Buzzards Bay on a charter flight Monday to Churchill Downs, where the colt will be a co-topweight and quite possibly the favorite Saturday in the Grade 1 Foster.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - On Saturday, trainer Mark Casse watched Arch Hall take over the lead in midstretch under jockey Patrick Husbands only to fall victim to a resurgent Barbeau Ruckus in the final furlong of Woodbine's 1 1/16-mile Steady Growth.
So Casse couldn't be blamed for feeling an uncomfortable touch of deja vu when Kimchi began moving to the lead in Sunday's $502,000 Woodbine Oaks at 1 1/8 miles.
Santa Anita will interrupt training on its main track for as long as two weeks in the next month to inspect the base of the racetrack, track president Ron Charles said over the weekend.
"What we're looking to do is open the track up and look at the base, have the base examined, and make sure it's 100 percent," Charles said.
He said the project would likely take 10 days.
"If we did find problems, it could be longer," he said. "It could go to 14 days."