OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In the right spot, the speedy After the Tone and the late-running Freeroll make up a nice entry. Last month's Ladies Handicap may not have been the right spot.
"It was a little too far for After the Tone and there was not enough pace for Freeroll," said Seth Gregory, assistant to trainer Mark Hennig.
Turf Paradise's leading rider, Glenn Corbett, and its leading apprentice, Kristina Kenney, suffered injuries in a spill in the track's fourth race Tuesday, while a third fallen rider, Joel Campbell, escaped without injury.
Corbett was on the lead when his mount, Jay R, broke down near the three-eighths pole. Kenney's mount, Restlessinseattle, was following and could not avoid the fallen horse and rider. Campbell and his mount, Steve's Memo, fell over the first two fallen horses and riders.
Brian Elmore has been named vice president and general manager of Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., the track's owner, Churchill Downs Inc., announced Wednesday.
Elmore, 50, has worked for the last 10 years as director of offtrack betting operations and in other capacities at another track owned by Churchill Downs Inc., Hoosier Park, near Indianapolis. He worked at Bandera Downs in Texas for 3 1/2 years before moving to Hoosier.
Elmore replaces Paul Kuerzi, who had headed Ellis' on-site operations for Churchill since 1999. Kuerzi announced his retirement in November.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Many horse trainers will tell you they cannot afford to develop an emotional attachment to the animals they train. Treat it as a business, goes the mantra. But if you're a trainer with 10 or 12 horses, a trainer who often gallops his own stock, and sometimes even grooms them, it's hard to keep things impersonal.
Proven Cure, who won two stakes last year at age 11, has not lost a step with the turn of the calendar. He won his 12-year-old debut last Sunday night at Sam Houston Race Park, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
It was a strong performance from Proven Cure, who won a 5 1/2-furlong optional-claiming allowance over a stout field that included stakes winners Run Zeal Run and Herve.
"That was fun," said John Locke, who trains Proven Cure for the Stonecrest Farm operation of William Reed.
The determination of the champion 2-year-old Quarter Horse could come down to whether the 25 championship voters gave equal consideration to Grade 1 stakes held earlier in the year versus year-ending Grade 1 stakes that are fresher in the voters' minds.
The 2005 champions will be announced on Jan. 18, and the voters' selections were due this past Monday.
She won her career debut last summer at Saratoga. She followed up with a win in allowance company at odds-on, also in upstate New York, before chasing home Folklore, 2005's likely 2-year-old filly champion, in the Grade 1 Matron at Belmont Park.
She was ridden in all three by the most recognizable name in the business, Jerry Bailey, and she is handled by the country's winningest trainer the last two seasons, Steve Asmussen.
Who is she?
SAN MATEO, Calif. - When line up beside each other in posts 1 and 2 for Friday's Bay Meadows feature, it will be a case of been-there-done-that versus look-out-world-here-I-come.
Sands of Time seems the one to beat in the field of 10 older runners going one mile on the turf in a first-level allowance race. He has more victories (12) than Now Victory has starts (9).
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Helen Pitts found herself late Tuesday morning sitting in her car outside the Gulfstream Park barn that houses the string of racehorses she trains.
"I think I live at the barn, but I'm not really sure anymore," said Pitts.
Excuse the disorientation. Just six months ago Pitts was an assistant to trainer Ken McPeek. She rode maybe eight horses a morning, traveled to out-of-town stakes, stayed plenty busy. But nothing like this.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - The 4-year-old filly Homecoming last started in a stakes race at Hollywood Park. Commercialize raced a couple of times at Del Mar last summer. Baena and Legislady have held their own in Churchill Downs turf allowance races. But at the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs, it has paid to dig a little deeper, scrutinize a little longer. Long-priced winners have become standard fare here this winter, and Thursday's featured 10th race - a second-level turf allowance with a $40,000 claiming option - may not go to the most obvious horses on paper.
