ARCADIA, Calif. - A.P. Warrior was briefly considered for last weekend's Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park until owner Stan Fulton and trainer Eoin Harty decided to remain in California and point the colt for the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 17.
To get to the Grade 1 Futurity, Harty wanted a prep race. He has found an appropriate spot in a $45,000 allowance race over a mile at Santa Anita on Friday. A.P. Warrior will be favored to beat seven rivals.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The complexion of fall racing in Southern California remained undecided Wednesday while officials from Hollywood Park and the Thoroughbred Owners of California negotiated a revised purse agreement void of turf races at Hollywood.
Hollywood Park on Tuesday announced the cancellation of all turf racing for the fall meet that begins Wednesday and runs through Dec. 19, citing the unsatisfactory condition of the new grass course that was installed this summer.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Phil Serpe had two reasons to be happy about scratching Pleasant Laughter out of Wednesday's Miss Oceana Stakes in favor of Friday's featured entry-level allowance race at Aqueduct.
First, Friday's $46,000 race at one mile looks like an easier spot. Second, Play Ballado, who soundly defeated Pleasant Laughter by 6 1/4 lengths when they met at this condition level on Oct. 10, was an easy winner of Wednesday's Miss Oceana.
"I think it's a better spot for her to run," Serpe said Wednesday afternoon.
The damage inflicted by Hurricane Rita on Delta Downs in Vinton, La., in late September has forced the track to cancel the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot on Dec. 2. The 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds, given a grade for its fourth running this year, was to be the first graded Thoroughbred stakes in the 30-year history of Delta.
The track has also canceled the $250,000 Princess for 2-year-old fillies. The cancellations were announced Wednesday by Delta officials, who said they plan to bring the Jackpot back next year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the horse racing desert cryptically known as Short Fields Sands, the fall meet at Churchill Downs is providing a welcome oasis. On the overnight sheet for a 10-race Friday card at Churchill, there are 125 entries, a tonic indeed for horseplayers thirsting for sizable fields.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sheer Enchantment seeks her second victory at the $62,500 allowance/optional claiming level Friday at Woodbine in a 1 1/16-mile grass race for fillies and mares.
Sheer Enchantment had a productive 3-year-old campaign last year, finishing third in the Wonder Where Stakes and fifth in the Flaming Page Stakes. She won her third outing this year convincingly, closing wide from well off moderate fractions to prevail by nearly five lengths in an Ontario-sired allowance.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Surely nothing can happen over the next couple of months that would keep Stevie Wonderboy from being named the 2-year-old champion of 2005. Nonetheless, a handful of remaining stakes across North America could alter the outlook for the Kentucky Derby next spring, most notably the Remsen Stakes, the Ken-tucky Jockey Club Stakes, and the Hollywood Futurity.
First came Paz Ciudadana, and now More Than Promised. Trainer Steve Asmussen's dominance of turf races for fillies and mares in the region has been overwhelming, with those two runners alone winning a combined six stakes since May.
More Than Promised won her second straight stakes on Oct. 21 at Remington Park, when she rolled to an eye-catching 8 1/4- length score in a division of the track's $40,000 Oaks. Prior to that race, she won the $75,000 DeBartolo Memorial at Louisiana Downs on Oct. 1 and an allowance at Arlington Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Nick Nosowenko has only one serious complaint as he nears the end of his first full season as a trainer.
"We've had 'seconditis' all year," said Nosowenko, who has won with three of his 44 starters while finishing second 11 times and third on seven occasions.
The cure could lie with Tamara, the author of one of those victories and three second-place finishes, who will be looking to give Nosowenko, 44, his first stakes win as a trainer here in Saturday's $135,375 Ontario Fashion Handicap at Woodbine.
