Fri, 12/02/2005 - 00:00

Mr. Trieste goes after 8th in row

Mr. Trieste, who has not lost in more than 15 months, will bid for his eighth straight win Sunday in the $100,000 Distance Championship Handicap at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M.

A 1 1/8-mile race, the Distance Championship tops the closing day program of the track's inaugural meet. There are also two other stakes on the card. The $75,000 Zia Park Express has been brought back after high winds forced its cancellation last Sunday, and the $100,000 Zia Park Championship for Quarter Horses drew Planet Holland.

Fri, 12/02/2005 - 00:00

All Wired Up wire to wire

All Wired Up, cleared quickly under Marlon St. Julien, and then led throughout to capture Thursday night's $75,000 Peninsula Gaming Inaugural at Evangeline Downs by 4 1/2 lengths in track record time.

Believe Im Special outfinished Zarb's Luck for the place by a head. It was three-quarters of a length farther back to favored Britt's Jules, who reported home fourth.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

My Charmer attracts Grade 1 duo

MIAMI A pair of Grade 1 stakes winners, , will showcase their talents for a mere $100,000 purse in a field of 12 fillies and mares in Saturdays Grade 3 My Charmer Handicap on turf at Calder.

The 1 1/8-mile My Charmer is the first of four $100,000 stakes to be decided on Saturdays Grand Slam I card, along with the Three Ring Stakes, Foolish Pleasure Stakes, and Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap. The four races, 7 through 10 on the 12-race program, make up a pick four wager.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

Captain Squire zeroes in on fifth stakes win

INGLEWOOD, Calif. When major stakes winner Captain Squire went out of training with a knee injury in 2004, trainer Jeff Mullins thought he had seen the last of him.

I didnt think hed be back in my barn, Mullins said.

But much to Mullinss delight, Captain Squire returned this summer and is having one of the best stretches of his five-year career.

Saturday, Captain Squire will attempt to win his fifth stakes in the $100,000 over six furlongs at Hollywood Park.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

First clash of two star sprinters

OZONE PARK, N.Y. were the two dominant filly sprinters in New York in 2005. Saturday, they meet at Aqueduct for the first time in a strong edition of the $75,000 Garland of Roses, the last sprint stakes of the year for females in New York.

Bank Audit, a 4-year-old, has won 5 of 11 starts this year, including the Distaff Breeders Cup and Genuine Risk both Grade 2 events as well as the listed Interborough Handicap. Acey Deucey, a 3-year-old who has yet to face her elders, won the Grade 1 Prioress, Grade 2 Comely, and the listed Dearly Precious.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

'Hotstuf' still has something to prove

MIAMI - Hotstufanthensome has won more money this year than any of his 11 rivals in Saturday's $100,000 . He's also coming off the best performance of his career, a 14 1/2-length victory over a boggy course in the Grade 3 Cliff Hanger Handicap at The Meadowlands. But Hotstufanthensome, the 118-pound highweight, might still need a few breaks if he is to come out on top in a wide open Grade 3 Tropical Turf.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

Pletcher has strong hand in juvenile stakes

MIAMI - Trainer Todd Pletcher will reach down into his vast pool of 2-year-old talent to send out Capozzene and Saint Augustus as leading contenders in two of the four stakes at Calder on Saturday. Capozzene will run in the $100,000 Three Ring, and Saint Augustus will run in the $100,000 What a Pleasure Stakes.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

'Madelyn' ships in for Leggio

Larry Jones can laugh now. Last Sunday, when tornado warnings were out for the area around Oaklawn Park, humor was in short supply.

Jones bases much of his training operation out of Ellis Park in western Kentucky, and was one of the horsemen most directly affected when a tornado ripped through the Ellis backstretch last month. With his base essentially destroyed, Oaklawn allowed Jones to move in early. And here came another round of storms.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

Servis plans to shuttle horses from Oaklawn

It is nothing on the scale of a Smarty Party, but John Servis is coming to Louisiana Downs for the first time.

Servis, who trained Smarty Jones, has never started a horse at Louisiana Downs, but with the Fair Grounds meet moved to Bossier City this season, and Servis just three hours north at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., there will be fairly regular trips south during the coming weeks.

"I've got some horses doing well, ready to run," Servis said.

Thu, 12/01/2005 - 00:00

Lumbre looks intriguing

Lumbre has a number of things going for him heading into Saturday's $100,000 Zia Park Derby, a race in which he will take on stakes winners Real Dandy and Military Major, as well as the Southern California-based Stormin Away.

The 1 1/16-mile race is part of a stakes-filled weekend at Zia, the Hobbs, N.M., track that will close out its inaugural meet Sunday.