SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Marquis Downs kicks off its 2006 Thoroughbred season with 56 horses entered in seven races on Friday. That average field size of eight matches the average for the 2005 meeting, and race manager Rick Fior expects that trend to continue all season.
Stall applications this spring were about the same as last year, and a few horses are likely to arrive from Lethbridge, Assiniboia Downs, and Stampede Park as the summer progresses.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Leading rider Russell Baze took off his remaining mounts Wednesday but apparently escaped serious injuries when Spanish Eyes suffered a fatal breakdown in Wednesday's second race at Bay Meadows.
Spanish Eyes was dueling for the lead with Viento Fuerte when he broke down on the turn of a five-furlong turf race.
Friday night's $37,000 allowance headliner has a distinctive stakes flavor to it as Costa Rising attempts to duplicate his winning effort in the $50,000 John Franks Memorial Stakes at Louisiana Downs earlier this month. A field of eight will go postward in the third-level allowance, which will be contested at a mile and 70 yards.
Rafael Hernandez and Camilo Pitty, who are atop the jockey standings through two months of action, have twice dominated Fairmount cards over the last two weeks. Hernandez and Pitty combined to win eight of the 10 races run on May 12, and last Thursday they captured seven of the nine races.
Hernandez won the first three races Thursday, with Pitty winning the next three before bagging his fourth winner in the nightcap. Hernandez maintains a 56-40 lead over Pitty through Tuesday, with Danush Sukie third with 39 wins.
Top Shoter, last season's horse of the year at Finger Lakes, is expected to attempt to capture the George Barker Handicap for the third straight year on Monday's Memorial Day program.
The $50,000 Barker, a six-furlong sprint for New York-breds, and the $50,000 Susan B. Anthony for statebred fillies and mares will be run Monday at the western New York oval.
The 7-year-old Top Shoter has made just one start this season, finishing seventh in a six-furlong optional claimer on the turf at Belmont Park.
Rockem Sockem, the 2005 Michigan horse of the year, rallied from well back for his first victory of the year in an optional claiming race on Monday's card. He tried the same tactic in his 2006 debut on May 6 and was just beaten. Terry Houghton was aboard the 5-year-old gelding, who is owned by Henry Mast and trained by Robert Gorham.
Houghton and Gorham are atop the local standings through May 23. Houghton, a multiple title holder at this western Michigan track, has 18 wins, 10 more than his closest competitors, through nine days of racing.
Trainer John Muckey saddled his first career winner Saturday when he sent out Boots a Flyin' to score a $55.20 upset in the fourth race.
Muckey took out his license at Fonner Park and his win came in his third career start; all three have been made by the 5-year-old mare Boots a Flyin', who won a restricted $5,000 claimer Saturday. Muckey is the son of Sally Muckey, who trains Pepper Lang, a stakes winner last year. His win is the first at the meet for the family, which also includes his brother Chris Harris.
Jockey Chris Baker, a Penn National regular since 1981, will be sidelined for several months recuperating from a broken foot sustained in an accident prior to last Saturday night's sixth race.
Despite the injury, Baker retained his mount in the race and finished ninth aboard Mr. New Freedom.
Baker ranks 12th at the meet with 20 wins from 108 mounts.
Sybles Angel, scratched from last Saturday's Tomboy Stakes on the turf, opted instead for a second-level statebred allowance on Sunday going six furlongs on the dirt. She had no problems dispensing with that field to win by 7 1/4 lengths as the 3-10 favorite.
A close second in the Glacial Princess Stakes at Beulah in her final start at 2, Sybles Angel has shown marked improvement this year, winning 2 of her 3 starts and losing the other by a neck. Sybles Angel earned a 77 Beyer for her allowance win, and figures as a leading contender for the Queen City Oaks later in the meet.