Travelin Leroy has shown he is substantially faster than his competition in Saturday's Maryland Juvenile Championship at Laurel Park.
If Travelin Leroy runs anything close to the 95 Beyer Speed Figure he posted in his career debut last May at Belmont Park or the 90 Beyer he earned for his runner-up finish in an allowance at Delaware Park on Nov. 1, the other eight Maryland-bred 2-year-olds will be running for second in the one-mile stakes worth $75,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Del Mar is making a retroactive payment of $1 million to owners who had horses earn prize money in overnight races during the track's 2005 meeting.
The retroactive payment is the second from the meeting, held last summer. In August, a month after the meeting started, the track raised purses 5 percent and made the increase retroactive to the start of the season on July 20.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Leave Me Alone's 2005 racetrack tour ends on Saturday where it began, Santa Anita.
Back in January, she beat maidens here in her second career start and later in the meeting placed in a minor stakes. After that, her career took off. She raced at five other racetracks and won three stakes, most notably the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga in August.
Saturday, Leave Me Alone seeks her second Grade 1 win in the $250,000 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over seven furlongs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - India Halo, the Argentine-bred mare who won the Ladies Handicap here on Dec. 17, will take on males in her next start, Saturday's $75,000 Gallant Fox Handicap at Aqueduct.
Trainer Jimmy Ferraro said the 1 5/8 miles of the Gallant Fox is why he's choosing to wheel India Halo back on two weeks' rest and run her against the boys. Ferraro's other option was to wait for the Affectionately Handicap on Jan. 14.
"That's the main thing," Ferraro said of the distance. "Plus, she's feeling good, she's sharp."
MIAMI - Jockey Jerry Bailey will pick and choose his mounts carefully this winter at Gulfstream Park as he continues to wind down his brilliant Hall of Fame career. But he didn't hesitate to accept an offer from trainer Frank Gomez to ride In Summation when the once-beaten youngster kicks off his 3-year-old campaign on Jan. 7 in Gulfstream Park's one-mile Aventura Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - No one would have thought twice had trainer Del Carroll entered Coined for Success in Wednesday's $75,000 Alex M. Robb Handicap. After all, he finished second behind Carminooch in the Gander Stakes and Carminooch was favored to win the Robb.
But Carroll opted for what he hopes is a softer spot in Friday's third-level allowance race at Aqueduct. , winless in 11 months, looms the controlling speed in the 1 1/16-mile race, which also includes an optional claiming tag of $75,000. Five of the seven runners are eligible to be claimed.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The American debut of Quickfire at Santa Anita on Friday can provide the English import with the one thing that is missing from her 2005 campaign - a victory.
, who recently joined trainer Bobby Frankel's stable, placed in two stakes in England earlier this year. She finished second in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes at York in May and second in the Oak Tree Stakes at Goodwood in July.
Quickfire has finished 11th and fifth in her last two starts, both minor stakes.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - A win in Friday's optional claiming feature, for those who have not won twice at a mile or farther on the turf this year, would be a great way to end the season on a high note for someone in the field of 10. Several entered in the one-mile turf race with an $80,000 claiming option have dealt with disappointment this year, but for others, such as Sampson's Son, a win on Friday would be icing on the cake.
Ellis Park, the Henderson, Ky., racetrack ravaged by a tornado Nov. 6, will conduct its scheduled 36-day race meet in 2006, Churchill Downs Inc. officials announced in a release issued Wednesday afternoon.
The 2006 meet at Ellis Park, as well as the financially troubled track's long-term future, had been in doubt after it incurred damage to its barn area, racing office, jockeys' quarters, grandstand, tote board, starting gate, and safety rail.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of Chicago's greatest claim of 2005, Lord of the Game, and with a freshening following a subpar performance in the Fayette Stakes on Oct. 29 at Keeneland, he has started gearing up for his 2006 campaign.
Monday at Hawthorne, Lord of the Game recorded his first timed workout since finishing sixth of nine in the Fayette, going an easy half-mile and galloping out an additional furlong, according to trainer Tom Tomillo. Lord of the Game officially was credited with a three-furlong work in 38 seconds.
