ALBANY, Calif. - In her first start for trainer John Martin, Strong Faith won the Muir Woods at Golden Gate Fields on March 12. She will meet a similar but slightly stronger field on Sunday in the $40,000-added Half Moon Bay Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Mark Saleby, one of Martin's clients, took a liking to after watching her win at Golden Gate Fields last year and asked Martin to claim her for $32,000 on Jan. 26 at Bay Meadows.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Rochester Cat would have faced an uphill battle Saturday, jumping from an Illinois-bred maiden race into the $100,000 Lost Code Stakes. In fact, his entry in the Lost Code was merely trainer Andy Hansen covering all the bases. Hansen always intended to start Rochester Cat on Sunday in the colts and geldings division of the Illinois Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' Foundation Sales Graduate Stakes, and that is where Rochester Cat, among the most impressive maiden winners at this National Jockey Club meet, will show up.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Alex Solis has been on Brother Derek for all seven of his races and, this year, for most of his workouts. While Dan Hendricks has carefully crafted a training regimen designed to keep Brother Derek in top form while retaining his freshness for the demands of the spring, it is Solis who knows, better than anyone else possibly could, just how good Brother Derek feels as he prepares for the biggest races of his life.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Balance seems an inappropriate name for such a one-sided filly. Pretty much everything that Balance does, she does full-bore, whether it's training, racing, or keeping her veteran trainer on his toes.
"She's one of the toughest, strongest horses I've ever trained," said David Hofmans, who in a 33-year career has trained such standouts as Touch Gold, Alphabet Soup, and Adoration. "She's very self-willed."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ailments and injury took their toll on Saturday's $750,000 . Mother Nature could do further damage still.
Hours before post positions were drawn for the Grade 1 Wood, the connections of Like Now and Showing Up revealed that their horses would not run. Like Now, the upset winner of the Gotham, had a temperature, according to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. Showing Up, undefeated in two starts, has a bruised right front foot, said assistant trainer Robin Smullen.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Defending Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Silver Train enters Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap with the glossiest resume, but he certainly seems vulnerable even in a less-than-stellar Carter field.
Silver Train was one of three horses trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. entered for the Grade 1 Carter, and one of eight entered overall. The Carter, run at seven furlongs, is one of three stakes on an 11-race card that includes the $750,000 Wood Memorial and $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes, both for 3-year-olds.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The top-class mares Happy Ticket and Star Parade will meet for the first time Saturday in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, and there is little separating the two, who will vie for favoritism in a field completed by Hollywood Story, Spun Sugar, La Reason, and Platinum Ballet.
Round Pond probably would have been the favorite had she been entered, but because multiple cuts on the left side of her mouth have not healed, she will not race, said her trainer, John Servis.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Horses coming out of the Santa Anita Handicap have won two of the last four runnings of the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap, and that is just one reason to like Magnum on Saturday when the 1 1/8-mile race is renewed for the 60th time at Oaklawn Park.
The Oaklawn will share a card with the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap, and together the races open the annual Racing Festival of the South, when nine stakes worth $2.8 million are decided over the final week of the meet.
ARCADIA, Calif. - It may only be early April, but trainer Jim Cassidy is convinced that Milk It Mick is the sort of horse capable of making the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs in November.
"He's tough," Cassidy said. "He comes to play."
proved Cassidy's point with a hard-fought win in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita last month. He faces another vital test in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Arcadia Handicap at a mile on turf here.
