ARCADIA, Calif. - Gary Mandella laughed at the incongruousness of it all. While his father, Richard, is halfway around the world in Dubai, preparing The Tin Man, another of the long-toothed veterans who has brought glory to the barn over the years, Gary will begin the week trying to win the first 2-year-old race of the meet, at the demanding distance of two furlongs.
"Not a lot of this went on in dad's barn," Gary Mandella said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Just as with blinker changes, horses who have been gelded since their last starts are supposed to be denoted in the official program. But at Santa Anita this meet, the reporting of such information has been haphazard, and has left officials seeking solutions.
The latest incidents happened on Sunday. Three horses - Bereguedez in the second race, Nodoubletouch in the fifth, and Parker Valley in the seventh - had been gelded since their last starts. Yet the information was processed in three different ways.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin left New York on Monday morning for Dubai, where he will run two horses in multimillion dollar races Saturday at Nad Al Sheba Race Course. But he will certainly have plenty to look forward to when he returns to the U.S. next week.
McLaughlin will be a participant in Kentucky Derby prep races in each of the first three Saturdays in April, hoping to return to Churchill Downs, where last year he finished second in the Derby with 71-1 shot Closing Argument.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Neither age nor the New York circuit have seemed to slow down Seattle Lake, a 7-year-old mare who appears to be racing equally as fast now as she has at any time in her 42-race career.
What must prove on Wednesday is that she can run just as well on two weeks' rest as she has when given two months between starts. If she handles the quick turnaround, she looms the one to beat in Wednesday's $65,000 Am Capable Stakes at Aqueduct as the inner-track meet kicks off its final week.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Barbaro and Flashy Bull, the likely favorite and second choice for the $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 1, turned in their final major works for the race about five minutes apart early Monday morning at the Palm Meadows training center.
Step right up and pick your layoff horse in the featured ninth race on Wednesday at Oaklawn Park. Will it be Monkey Hill, or do you prefer Wild Wild West?
These two, if they return in form from substantial layoffs, look like the best of seven horses entered in a third-level sprint allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option. It's toward that big "if," however, that handicappers need to direct their brainpower.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Jockey John McKee put an impeccable ride on Kentucky Derby prospect Lawyer Ron on Saturday, when he guided the colt to their fifth straight win together in the Grade 3, $300,000 at Oaklawn Park.
"I thought he did a super job," said trainer Bob Holthus. "He's got a lot of confidence in the horse."
Lawyer Ron came from farther off the pace than he ever had to win the 1 1/16-mile Rebel. McKee made the right calls at every stage of the race and was backed up by a talented and fit horse in Lawyer Ron.
Turfway Park officials are expecting a capacity field of 12 3-year-olds when the track's marquee race, the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes, is run Saturday.
Strong Contender is the likely favorite in the Grade 2 Lane's End, but over the weekend, as favorites were defeated in three of the four Kentucky Derby prep races, trainers from around the country were taking a closer look at shipping their horses to Florence, Ky., with the opportunity to enter the wide-open Derby fray.
ALBANY, Calif. - The way Victorina overcame trouble to win the $44,550 Eire Go Brach overnight stakes on Friday has her trainer, Greg Gilchrist, excited about her future. Victorina won the six-furlong race by a nose over Press Camp, and Gilchrist believes she'll be even more effective when she runs long.
Victorina has won 3 of 4 career starts, all sprints. She ran second to Press Camp in an overnight stakes off a four-month layoff in February, and turned the tables on that rival Friday.
