LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Under normal circumstances, Larry Jones would be very happy if Beat the Band won the feature race Thursday at Churchill Downs.
But after what happened early Sunday at Ellis Park, Jones is merely happy that Beat the Band will get to run at all.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If you asked racing fans to guess the next time Churchill Downs will run a stakes race on the dirt, most of them probably would be surprised to know that the correct answer is: not until Thanksgiving Day.
The next four stakes at Churchill all will be run on turf, as will, for good measure, the next three races in the overnight stakes program. The first of those grass races comes this weekend, when the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere and the Pent Up Kiss are run Saturday, and the Commonwealth Turf is run Sunday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - If the good allowance sprinter Trail Mix is such a dominant presence Thursday in the seventh-race feature at Hollywood Park, why would anyone bother to bet the race?
The twofold answer is Trail Mix's odds will be depressingly low in the first-condition allowance, and lightly raced Threesixtysecurity offers an appealing alternative. enter the seven-furlong race as the top contenders in the richest race on the Thursday card.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. has been very successful with horses he has obtained from Buckram Oak Farm. Silver Train won 3 of 5 starts, including the Breeders' Cup Sprint. Tiger Heart won two allowance races and finished second in the Grade 1 Vosburgh.
Thursday at Aqueduct, Dutrow runs the Buckram Oak Farm 3-year-old filly Carmandia for the first time in a second-level allowance race going seven furlongs. A 3-year-old daughter of Wild Rush, Carmandia looks to have found the right field for her first start in three months.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Edenwold will try to get a foothold on this year's Sovereign Award for Canadian champion 2-year-old Thursday at Woodbine in the $250,000 Coronation Futurity.
The 1 1/8-mile race was scheduled for last Sunday, but was moved to Thursday along with the $114,000 Labeeb Stakes because both races were on the part of Sunday's card that was canceled because of high winds.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Alex Solis is expected to resume riding at Hollywood Park next Wednesday, less than two weeks after he went down in a nasty spill Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. Solis underwent a magnetic resonance image on Monday that revealed nothing more than a swollen, bruised knee. Solis's agent, Scott McClellan, said Solis had the knee drained of excess fluid Monday and was instructed by his doctor to "take a week off and not do anything."
MIAMI - Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course are in negotiations that could pave the way to allowing each track to offer simulcast wagering when not operating a live race meet, top officials from both tracks confirmed Tuesday.
Gulfstream Park's president, Scott Savin, and his Calder counterpart, Ken Dunn, both said an agreement could be signed before Thanksgiving. Similar negotiations have been ongoing for many years, the two track executives said, but now the deal is closer to becoming reality than ever before.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In preparing King's Drama for the Japan Cup, run Nov. 27, trainer Bobby Frankel was going to take the conventional approach by working him this week and next.
That was until someone asked him if he was considering running King's Drama in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct. The more he thought about it, the more Frankel thought it was a good idea. Thus, King's Drama is now likely to run in Saturday's Red Smith, scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on turf.
MIAMI - Entries were drawn Monday at Calder for Saturday's Florida Million Day program, and the one horse conspicuous by his absence from the overnight sheet was the local 2-year-old sensation In Summation, who had been scheduled to run in the $150,000 Jack Price Juvenile Stakes.
The Florida Million is a series of eight stakes for horses bred in Florida.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Horse racing has a long history of rallying to worthy causes, and that spirit will be evident again Thursday night at The Meadowlands Racetrack in the Katrina Invitational Jockey Challenge.
"Challenge" is a misnomer. No one will be keeping score. There is no trophy or monetary reward at the end of the evening.
A stellar lineup of jockeys will compete in four designated races, and all mount fees and commissions will be donated to the Racetrack Chaplaincy for distribution to Louisiana horsemen devastated by the hurricane that pummeled the Gulf Coast.
