Great Seneca, unbeaten in two starts, and Crafty Tricker, whose three victories include an $85,000 stakes, head a group of evenly matched 3-year-old sprinters for Sunday's Dancing Count Stakes at Laurel Park.
The 5 1/2-furlong race, which carries a purse of $75,000, drew a field of seven, including an uncoupled entry from trainer Tim Salzman.
Rocky Gulch looks to add to his legacy as the richest New Mexico-bred of all time in the $100,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial Handicap Sunday at Sunland Park. The 1 1/16-mile event for New Mexico-bred 3-year-olds and upward lured a field of 12, including Ninety Nine Jack, who upset Rocky Gulch when they met in the Dec. 11 Johnie L. Jamison Handicap.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Grade 1 at Santa Anita on Saturday may be the perfect stakes.
The $250,000 race at seven furlongs drew 14 3-year-old fillies, 12 of which are stakes winners. The field includes the Grade 1 winners Leave Me Alone and Sharp Lisa; an improving filly in Pussycat Doll; the established turf fillies Berbatim, Shining Energy, and Three Degrees, who are switching surfaces; and stakes-winning shippers from Maryland and New York who are capable of winning.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Tin Man defied expectations by winning a $67,000 allowance race over a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Wednesday, providing the weak turf marathon division in California with a much-needed addition for 2006.
Making his first start in nearly 15 months, The Tin Man outfinished Captain Squire by a head, timed in a quick 1:34.32 under Victor Espinoza.
The victory was a pleasant surprise for trainer Richard Mandella, who felt that The Tin Man would need more distance.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Wet weather Saturday could force the $100,000 Monrovia Handicap from the hillside turf course to the main track for the second consecutive year.
Such a development would be a disappointment to trainer Mark Glatt, who starts Elusive Diva. It would be just fine with trainer Bob Baffert, whose filly Resplendency has thrived in the last year in races transferred from turf to dirt.
Those two are among the 13 entrants for the Monrovia, which is likely to have fewer starters regardless of which surface is used.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - As the regular rider of Coyote Lakes, Mike Luzzi knows a thing or two about winning the Gallant Fox Handicap. Luzzi was aboard for two of Coyote Lakes's three victories in this 1 5/8-mile marathon event.
In Saturday's 67th renewal of the Gallant Fox, Luzzi will be aboard probable favorite Navesink River, who takes on eight rivals in the $75,000 race run over the inner track.
Tortuga Flats left no doubt who was best in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Fillies. Nob Hill Deelite didn't wrap up the Champions Day Juvenile until the final yards. Both horses are back Saturday as the ones to beat in their respective divisions of the Louisiana Futurity.
, however, races a newcomer who may prove his equal, a Cole Norman-trained maiden winner named Cut Off Time. "I know he's a Louisiana-bred, but he seems like a pretty nice horse," Norman said last week when asked about his more promising 2-year-olds of 2005.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - An optional $40,000 claimer for 2-year-olds on Saturday may give Bay Meadows bettors an early look at part of the field for the Grade 3, $250,000 El Camino Real Derby on Jan. 29.
Six colts go one mile in the race, and the two who seem most capable of taking the next step to the derby are Bold Chieftain, an impressive wire-to-wire maiden winner sprinting in his second start, and late-running Passive Income.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Delayed but undiminished, the 13th annual Oregon Championship Day will be staged at Portland Meadows on Saturday.
The card was originally scheduled to be run Dec. 17, but a frozen track forced the cancellation of racing for that Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Racing will resume on Saturday for the first time since the cancellations.
The program includes five Thoroughbred stakes worth $80,000, plus the $45,000 Far West Futurity Finals for 2-year-old Quarter Horses at 400 yards.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct's inner-track meet is usually where Paraneck Stable enjoys its most success. After a 1-for-25 start to this year's inner-track meet, things were looking bleak for Paraneck Stable, owned by Ernie Paragallo.
But the worm began to turn Thursday when Paraneck sent out two winners at the Big A, Achilles of Troy ($5) and Two Toed Sloth ($34.20). Paragallo and trainer Jennifer Pedersen hope their winning ways continue into Sunday, when they send out Amazing Buy in the $65,000 Interborough Handicap.
