Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Tortuga Flats on home turf again after rare defeat

Tortuga Flats has won three stakes at Louisiana Downs, and on Saturday she will return to the Bossier City, La., track for the $50,000 Fantasia. A six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies bred in Louisiana, the Fantasia has a field of seven, including stakes winners Leestown Light, Cutie Sabrina, Grand Facile, and Hello Sara Lou.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Oaks win high point for Guidry

Rick Schmitt/CDI
Mark Guidry, aboard Lemons Forever, has his sights set on 5,000 wins.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When a jockey has accumulated nearly 5,000 victories in a career spanning four decades, some of them are bound to be memorable.

Few, however, will stick with Mark Guidry as long as his Kentucky Oaks triumph aboard Lemons Forever. In patented Guidry style, Lemons Forever rallied from last in a field of 14 to capture the May 5 Oaks as the longest-priced winner in 132 runnings of the Churchill Downs filly classic.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

'Passion' set for top effort

Gamblers Passion may prove the one to beat in a wide-open field of six Iowa-bred fillies and mares in Saturday's $65,000 Mamie Eisenhower Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

Gamblers Passion returned from a six-month layoff and finished second, beaten two lengths by Camela Carson, in a six-furlong allowance for statebreds on April 21. Gamblers Passion, who captured two stakes at Prairie Meadows last summer, figures to move forward and should get a good stalking trip in the six-furlong Eisenhower under jockey Joel Campbell.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Indiana: Free Bonus back to defend

Defending champion Free Bonus faces seven Indiana-bred fillies and mares in the $40,000 Shelby County Stakes at Indiana Downs.

Free Bonus went on a seven-race losing streak following her 2 1/2-length score in this race last season. She returned to Indiana Downs on April 29 and scored a gate-to-wire three-quarter-length victory over open allowance company at six furlongs.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Sprinters prep for Hoist Her Flag

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Seven fillies and mares meet in a $23,000 allowance on Saturday at Canterbury Park that should serve as a useful prep for next month's Hoist Her Flag Stakes.

Katy Smiles may be favored in Saturday's six-furlong sprint. A winner of the Dean Kutz Stakes at this meeting last year, Katy Smiles also won the City of Phoenix Handicap while wintering at Turf Paradise. In her most recent outing, Katy Smiles finished a close second to the formidable Muir Beach in the Cactus Flower Handicap at Turf Paradise.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Off last, Saoirse Cat has edge

Bill Denver / Equi-Photos
Art Show, winning at The Meadowlands, has not raced since November.

Art Show, a stakes winner on turf at 2 last fall, and Saoirse Cat, who faded to fourth after setting the pace in last month's Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland, have something in common besides the fact both fillies are entered in Saturday's $85,000 Hilltop Breeders' Cup at Pimlico. The 1 1/16-mile turf race drew a field of eight 3-year-old fillies.

In their most recent start, both faced one of the East Coast's leading grass fillies, J'ray.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Delaware: No standout in Pollys Jet

Quelle Surprise, a stakes winner at nearly 30-1 last time out at Tampa Bay Downs, and Amandatude, returning to a route after finishing second in a sprint stakes, head an evenly matched group of 3-year-old fillies in the $50,000 Pollys Jet at Delaware Park.

The one-mile overnight stakes drew 14 horses, but only 10 will be permitted to start.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Philadelphia: Third matchup of rivals

Banjo Picker has finished a neck in front of Nittany Express the last two times they met, and he squares off against that arch rival again in the $50,000 Lyman Sprint Championship Handicap. The seven-furlong race, restricted to Pennsylvania-breds, is the first stakes of the season at Philadelphia Park.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Reappeal comes up a race for the aged

MIAMI - Racing may be, for the most part, a young man's game, but not in the Calder turf sprint division where the 9-year-old True Love's Secret and his 7-year-old stablemate Love My Mountain will take on 6-year-olds Placido and Key Deputy in Saturday's $45,000 Reappeal Stakes at Calder.

True Love's Secret is still going strong even after switching barns and moving from longtime trainer Rudy Wolfendale to Herman Wilensky earlier this year. In fact, True Love's Secret is going through a rejuvenation of sorts this year after a winless 2005 campaign.

Thu, 05/11/2006 - 00:00

Classy Sophia's Prince appears ready

Benoit & Associates
A stakes winner in New York, Great Intentions goes next in the Hendrie.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sophia's Prince dominated the 6 1/2-furlong Shepperton in his lone start in Ontario-sired stakes company at Woodbine last year.

On Saturday, in the six-furlong New Providence, Sophia's Prince will be making his seasonal bow at age 7 against some Ontario-sired rivals with sharp recent races.

"Main Executive is going to be awfully tough in there," said John LeBlanc Jr., who trains Sophia's Prince. "He had a stellar performance last time. And, a couple of the others have raced well.

"But I think when I'm on my game, I'd be the one to beat."