FORT ERIE, Ontario - Major Zee still has zip at age 13. He opened his 2006 campaign with a gate-to-wire victory last Saturday in a $4,000 bottom-level claimer at Fort Erie. The win was Major Zee's 19th in 73 career starts.
Surprisingly, he was claimed by Jason Giliforte, who is in his fourth year as a trainer, for owner Jeanne Ryan.
Giliforte, 33, gained prominence last fall, when he won the Puss N' Boots Cup, one of Fort Erie's most popular events, with Kris's Dancer.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Regardless on which surface it is run, Friday's $58,000 allowance feature at Belmont Park resembles a graded-stakes event.
Nine of the 11 horses entered for the turf are stakes winners, including Relaxed Gesture, who ended his 4-year-old season with a victory in the Group 1 Canadian International. Among the four main-track-only entrants are graded-stakes winners Evening Attire and Tap Day, who have excellent records on wet tracks.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainers have been slow to commit their horses to Saturday's $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park, to the point where the Grade 3 race is in jeopardy of being canceled, according to NYRA stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes.
As of Wednesday, Byrnes counted only three horses as definite: Bishop Court Hill, Pisgah, and Tiger. Byrnes lists Big Apple Daddy and The Deputy Is Home as possibles, though Bruce Levine, trainer of Big Apple Daddy, said he is pointing his horse to the $100,000 Don Levine at Philadelphia Park on May 27.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Since last summer, Allswellthatnswell has undergone a career transformation. Once a front-runner, Allswellthat-nswell is now a closer, a style that led to runner-up finishes in two stakes at Golden Gate Fields this spring.
Friday, she tries for her first stakes win in more than two years in the $60,000 restricted Tuzla Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park.
"We have taught her to come from behind and not be an all-speed filly," trainer Don Warren said. "We'll try it again. Hopefully, the speed will set it up for her."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Martin Garcia, the 21-year-old riding sensation from northern California, wasted no time making friends at Hollywood Park on Wednesday morning.
Preparing for the start of his Southern California career on Friday night at Hollywood Park, Garcia scurried about the barn area through the morning, working horses for several trainers. By mid-morning, Garcia had the comfort of knowing that early impressions were favorable.
He is booked to ride four races on Friday and has a mount in the $100,000 Los Angeles Handicap on Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby off a break of five weeks between races, some thought that might start a trend toward racing horses more sparsely.
That trend has not taken over yet. Three of the eight runners in Friday's $66,000 10th race at Churchill Downs - Sgt. Bert, Dynareign, and Esprit Du Roi - are making their second start of this meet, which began April 29. All three are contenders in the optional claimer at a mile on turf.
CALGARY, Alberta - Business was good at the entry box Tuesday morning, and first-year racing secretary Russ Armstrong was able to chart nine races for Friday's program here at Stampede Park.
Included in the evening card are a pair of solid optional $40,000 claiming sprints for fillies and mares, which came about after Armstrong received 13 entrants and split the race. The first of the two, the sixth race, may have come up as the tougher race.
