HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Ian Wilkes, who recently took over a portion of trainer Carl Nafzger's large stable, got his 2006 Gulfstream meet off to a quick start by saddling a pair of winners here last week. Wilkes, a native of Australia, figures to add to that victory total when he sends out Atlas Valley in Thursday's $37,000 feature, a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trailing Twelve, a distant fourth behind Achilles of Troy as the favorite in the Count Fleet Stakes, will attempt to bounce back in Thursday's eighth race at Aqueduct.
The 1 1/16-mile route is an allowance/optional claimer with first-level conditions that drew 11 3-year-olds. The field includes the Gary Contessa-trained entry of Sunshine Alpine, a debut winner against $50,000 maiden sprinters, and Wazoo City, whose two best races by far came on the Polytrack surface at Turfway Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - It is too soon to compare a second-condition allowance winner to a horse that won the Breeders' Cup Mile, but don't tell trainer Julio Canani. He trained Silic to victory in the 1999 BC Mile, and has another budding turf miler in Charmo, who will jump into a Grade 1 after a sharp two-other-than allowance win last Saturday at Santa Anita.
Racing one mile, Charmo ran his final quarter-mile in about 22.50 seconds despite losing a shoe at the eighth pole. "Silic did the same thing the first time I ran him," Canani said. "I hope it's an omen."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Ticker Tape will be a busy girl this winter. The 5-year-old turf mare runs Thursday at Santa Anita as the favorite in the $75,000 Tuzla Handicap, 18 days after finishing second in the Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap.
And the one-mile Tuzla is only a warm-up. After that, trainer Jim Cassidy said, "I'm running her right back [Feb. 20] in the Buena Vista."
Calder Race Course has been forced to suspend simulcast operations beginning Wednesday and until further notice while the state of Florida appeals a lower court ruling that declared the law preventing the state's two Thoroughbred tracks from conducting year round simulcasting to be unconstitutional.
The list of Monmouth Park's major stakes for 2006 looks the same as last year's schedule, but the order in which the races will be run has been shuffled.
In order to assure the new turf course will be ready, several grass stakes have been shifted from their traditional dates to later in the season, including the Grade 3 Red Bank Handicap, the Grade 3 Boiling Springs Handicap, and the Jersey Derby.
The Red Bank, usually the first graded race of the season, in late May, has been pushed back to Sept. 2.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Richard Dutrow Jr. has been conspicuously absent from the program since the meet began on Jan. 4, though not by any choice of his own. Dutrow, who trained two 2005 Breeders' Cup winners, including Horse of the Year Saint Liam, was banned from running horses the first three weeks of the meet while the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering "processed documentation and did a background check on his license application," according to division director Dave Roberts.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Full fields will be the rule for the eight-race, $3.6 million Sunshine Millions card, to be run simultaneously on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita, Magna Entertainment Corp.'s two flagship tracks.
The Sunshine Millions, which pits California-breds against Florida-breds, will also mark the end of jockey Jerry Bailey's Hall of Fame career, which concludes at Gulfstream following his ride aboard Silver Tree in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Turf.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With the $300,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint being run here on Saturday and the Grade 1, $250,000 Santa Monica Handicap on Sunday, trainers of some top-class female sprinters must choose between the two lucrative races.
