PORTLAND, Ore. - Trainers Jonathan Nance and Ben Root take double shots at Saturday's $15,000 OTBA Stallion Stakes at Portland Meadows, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds that has drawn a field of six.
Nance will field Mountain Band and Silver River, who will race as an entry, while Root will send out Riley Beaver and Lovers Cascadian, who will race uncoupled owing to separate ownership.
Dixie Meister is the one to beat and Pass Rush is the one to fear on Saturday night in the $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
The 1 1/8-mile race is the richest dirt race of the meet for older horses. Also on the card is the $40,000 Sam Houston Distaff Handicap, led by Ballroom Deputy and Culinary.
has long been pointed to the Maxxam by trainer Steve Asmussen. In his last start, Dixie Meister shipped from Sam Houston to the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs and ran second to Brass Hat in the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - is a multiple stakes winner. Make Mine Minnie opened the new year with a stakes victory. Seam Seeker is stakes-placed. Loosends was fourth in a $100,000 stakes at Delaware, and Karlee's Kitten closed well in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet.
Yet it is two local runners making their stakes debuts who could be the ones to watch in Saturday's $75,000 Burlingame Handicap at one mile at Bay Meadows.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Eric Reed believes the surface might have been a tad too heavy when his emerging stable star, Mighty Martha, incurred her first defeat over Polytrack at Turfway Park last month.
"She got caught up in a speed duel on a day when speed was having a real hard time," said Reed.
But Reed would never be one to criticize Polytrack - no way. Not only was Reed the trainer of the first-ever winner over Polytrack in North America, when Regal Reproach won Sept. 7 at Turfway, but his stable's numbers are the best they have ever been in 21 years of training.
Saturday's $85,000 What a Summer Stakes at Laurel Park became much more intriguing Thursday morning when New York-based trainer Mike Hushion revealed he wasn't going to run Great Intentions.
A Grade 2 winner in her last start of 2005, Great Intentions would have been an odds-on favorite against nine other filly and mare sprinters in a race Hushion intended to use as a prep for the Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap on Feb. 18.
Those plans had to be scrapped after Great Intentions sustained a minor injury during training hours Thursday.
OLDSMAR Fla. - A quartet of 3-year-old fillies who are coming off impressive wins in their career debuts top a field of 13 in Saturday's $60,000 Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
The leading contender is Sweet Fervor, a Seeking the Gold filly who is a half-sister to four stakes winners, including $1.3 million earner Concerto. Sweet Fervor won her career debut at Belmont Park in September despite racing greenly. She has come back to work smartly at Payson Park. Those morning moves prompted Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott to supplement Sweet Fervor to the Gasparilla for $1,500.
Peppers Pride comes in unbeaten in three outings but hasn't raced in more than two months. Acute Angle comes here as the sharp, in-form horse, having won two straight. Bo Chime has shown she can be freaky when in the mood.
Those three clash Saturday in Sunland Park's $125,000 La Senora Handicap. The six-furlong race for 3-year-old New Mexico-bred fillies has lured a field of eight.
The last time Karlee's Kitten raced, she had the misfortune of looking up and seeing Diplomat Lady, Balance, and Sabatini in the gate with her. She wasn't able to overcome that kind of opposition in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet at Hollywood Park on Dec. 18, but takes a significant class drop as she invades Turf Paradise for the $40,000 Sun Devil.
The mile race for 3-year-old fillies drew a field of eight.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Trainer Ben Root entered the new year with more than twice as many seconds as wins at the Portland Meadows meeting, and he had yet to win here with either of his two best horses - Silent Exploit and Cascadians Cuttie.
Da Candy Man may not have been able to handle Manolito when they met here last spring, but he got his revenge in last Saturday's $125,000 Pepsi Cola Handicap.
"The race went very well," said rider Casey Lambert. "I was fortunate to pick up the mount. I had to run up against Da Candy Man last time."
Trained by Dan Dennison, Da Candy Man finished second to Manolito in last April's Copper Top Futurity but didn't race again until Dec. 10. He has come back a brand new horse.