LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The last time the Belmont Stakes field lacked both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners, the winning trainer wound up being D. Wayne Lukas.
That was six years ago, when Commendable upset the 132nd Belmont at 18-1. The victory was the 13th and most recent in a Triple Crown event for Lukas, the Hall of Fame trainer who maintains a keen perspective on the meaning of a Belmont in a so-called down year.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A battle for the lead may doom some horses, but it's an ideal scenario for Bushwacker, who starts in Friday's seventh race at Hollywood Park.
starts in an optional claimer at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, trying to win for the second time in three starts. He will be near the front early, which trainer Bill Currin said is a strategy that works for the 4-year-old colt.
"He's got to have horses to run with," Currin said. "He loses interest if he's alone. When you pull him up, you discourage him."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A year later than expected, Red Fort is ready for a breakthrough performance on Saturday in the $350,000 Charles Whittingham Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Last year, Red Fort posted close seconds in the Inglewood and Whittingham handicaps at Hollywood. Then he had his season derailed by an ankle injury.
Saturday's Whittingham could provide Red Fort with his first major stakes win. A stakes winner in England in 2004, the 6-year-old Red Fort is well-suited to the Whittingham distance of 1 1/4 miles on turf.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Horses trained by Cody Autrey came within a nose of sweeping all three feature races run last week at Lone Star Park. For the feature here Friday night, he will send out yet another contender in Bartok's Banco.
Cajole and Matty's Song racked up the featured allowances last Friday and Sunday. Corredor de Plata ran in the feature on Saturday, the $40,000 Nevill/Kyocera, and was second by a nose. Autrey also won an allowance on the Sunday undercard with Fantastic New Way.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Trainer Pat Mouton says it is time Venomous returned to his roots.
"He was bred in Texas but has never faced Texas-breds," said Mouton just days after the talented 4-year-old he trains for Gary and Don Holcomb picked up his first stakes score here last Saturday in the $50,000 Kings Court.
Mouton said he intends to run Venomous in the $75,000 Assault at Lone Star on July 8, then return to Louisiana Downs for the Folklore on July 29.
Owner-trainer Susan M. Fisher has been suspended 60 days and fined $250 by Thistledown stewards after her horse Baltic Maria, who won Thistledown's ninth race on April 21, tested positive for phenylpropanolamine, classified as a class 3 drug (out of five levels of classification) by the Association of Racing Commissioners International.
Class 3 drugs are those that may or may not have generally accepted medical uses. Phenylpropanolamine is used in prescription and over-the-counter drug products as a nasal or sinus decongestant.
CALGARY, Alberta - Shady Remark, the elder statesman of the backstretch here at Stampede Park, makes his 93rd career start on Friday evening in search of his 20th win. Shady Remark will face nine rivals in the fifth-race superfecta feature, a six-furlong sprint for $22,000 claimers, which is easily the best betting race on the card.
AUBURN, Wash. - Everybody likes to see a strong finisher do his thing, but too many deep closers in the same field can leave the door wide open for a front-runner who is able to control the pace.
Escalante appears to be in that position in Friday's Emerald Downs feature, a $25,000 optional claimer at a mile that has drawn a field of 10 older horses.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - A Friday entry-level allowance race at Arlington Park has attracted a refugee from the Triple Crown prep wars, High Blues, who will try to bounce back from a disappointing try in his turf debut last month when he starts in the featured eighth race.
The trainer Mark Shuman has started 107 horses so far this season, which by no means is small-time. But considering that Shuman won 521 races between the beginning of 2003 and the end of 2005, it seems fair to say that his station in the racing world has changed.
