HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Paul McGee believes Mother Nature is to blame for Suave's poor performance as the favorite in last month's Donn Handicap. Unable to handle a sloppy Gulfstream Park main track, Suave faded to sixth as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Donn.
With Suave having come out of that race no worse for the wear and with no rain in the forecast for Saturday, McGee will give Suave a chance to redeem himself in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Reading the conditions of allowance races and matching them up to the prospective starting lineup can often give astute horseplayers an edge. That situation could apply to Thursday's $46,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, which is carded for fillies and mares who have not won two races other than maiden, claiming, or starter at a mile or over on the turf in 2005-06.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A funny thing about the 9-year-old Bluesthestandard is that no one wants to ride him. That is, no one except apprentice Juan Ochoa.
Trainer Bill Spawr speculates that many riders fear the horse is unsound. Kerwin John and Omar Berrio both rode him "safe" by taking him extremely wide, Victor Espinoza pulled him up at Del Mar the day Spawr claimed him last summer, and Garrett Gomez later declined the mount.
"The word is that he's broken down, but that's a fallacy," Spawr said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A normal weekday card at Santa Anita has little bearing on the graded-stakes program. Thursday is not normal.
The eight-race program includes an interesting mix of allowance and maiden races that will shed light on the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap card Saturday.
ALBANY, Calif. - When Dance Thief lost his comeback race by a head on Jan. 19, there initially was disappointment in the Jeff Bonde barn. But all things considered, losing in a photo wasn't so bad. The mere fact that the colt was running was quite encouraging.
The second to Booker Time was Dance Thief's first start in 13 months. The colt returns Thursday in a six-furlong maiden sprint against six rivals.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If TGIF works for Fridays, then TGFNY (Thank God for New York-breds) applies to the two open allowance races on Thursday's card at Aqueduct. Statebreds make up more than 50 percent of the entries in the two races.
Of the six fillies and mares in the third race, an optional claimer with two-other-than allowance conditions at six furlongs, Nevaeh, Tax the Queen, and Sweet Sweet are New York-breds. Sweet Sweet may vie for favoritism with the Anthony Dutrow-trained entry of Bless My Mary and Mint Landing.
Buoyed by the imminent prospect of slot-machine revenue, Philadelphia Park has announced a purse increase and bonus tie-in for one of its marquee events, the Cotillion Breeders' Cup Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
The Grade 2 Cotillion, to be run Oct. 7, will now be worth $500,000, up from $300,000 last year. And if the Cotillion winner goes on to capture the Breeders' Cup Distaff, to be run Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs, a $250,000 bonus will be paid to the winning owner.
The stakes schedule at this year's Finger Lakes meeting remains nearly unchanged from last year's, with 17 stakes worth a total of $1,225,000 over 160 racing days.
Once again, the New York Derby, to be run July 15 with a purse of $150,000 added, will be the second leg of the OTBs' Big Apple Triple for New York-bred 3-year-olds. The series - which starts with the Mike Lee Stakes at Belmont Park on June 25 and ends with the Albany Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25 - holds a $250,000 bonus for a sweep of the three races.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - These are good times for jockey Luis Quinonez. He is coming off the richest year of his career. He is tied atop the Oaklawn Park standings with Jamie Theriot. And he gets to share the jocks' room with his younger brother, Belen Quinonez, while another brother, Alonso Quinonez, is preparing to launch his riding career, possibly late in the meet at Oaklawn.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine's turf course again will play host to all of Canada's Grade 1 and Grade 2 stakes in 2006, with the $2 million Canadian International topping the list released by the Jockey Club of Canada on Tuesday.
The Canadian Graded Stakes Committee, which met last month, approved grades for a total of 37 stakes, the same number as last year. A number of graded events that were previously run as handicaps - which have been eliminated by Woodbine this year - will now be allowance stakes.
