ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Pyramid Park, one of the leading Canadian-bred 2-year-olds this year, goes for his second win in Sunday's $125,000 Kingarvie Stakes.
The 1 1/16-mile event for Ontario-sired 2-year-olds is the supporting feature on closing day of the Woodbine meeting. It also includes the unbeaten Bad Hat, who is making his first start around two turns.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Roman Chapa have been virtually unstoppable at Louisiana Downs the last two seasons, teaming up to win 16 races from 38 starters, including races at the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs. On Sunday they again have the one to beat in the co-featured eighth race, a seven-furlong allowance on the dirt. Extreme Storm will square off against seven rivals who will be looking for their second career wins other than maiden or claiming.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - In a record few 2-year-olds can match, Premier Dance has won five stakes so far this year, and could add to that total before the close of 2005.
Premier Dance, who is based at the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs, could make his next start at nearby Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La. He is being considered for the $100,000 Diamond Jo, trainer, Cody Autrey said. The one-mile race, the richest race on the stakes calendar at this Evangeline meet, will be run on Dec. 31.
CHICAGO - By midnight Thursday, the snow finally had tapered off to a trickle, and it was time to rev up the tractors at Hawthorne Race Course.
Hawthorne canceled its Thursday racing program before a flake of snow had even fallen in Chicagoland. Good call. When the clouds finally had finished emptying, there was somewhere between seven and nine inches on the ground, and just more than 12 hours until the Friday races.
Only one maiden was officially "broken" when Dicey Cat, a 2-year-old filly, wired the field in Wednesday's third race at Turfway Park. It just didn't seem that way to her veteran rider, Charlie Woods Jr.
Woods joked Friday, two days after scoring his first victory since returning from a hiatus of over two years, that he felt as if he, too, had broken his maiden - at the age of 55.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Abraham Katryan is hoping for a fast track for Lettherebejustice in Sunday's $139,125 Valedictory Handicap, which wasn't the case in last year's edition, when Lettherebejustice spun his wheels in the mud and finished fifth.
A 1 3/4-mile race, the Valedictory is the closing-day feature of the Woodbine meeting. The 12-race card, which begins at 12:35 p.m., also includes the $125,000 Kingarvie Stakes.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Mark Rheinford, who has waited more than 10 months to return Sanfran to the turf, finally gets that opportunity Sunday in a first-level allowance race at Golden Gate Fields.
Sanfran won his lone turf start here in January, when Rheinford claimed him for $16,000. Sanfran moved five wide on the second turn, circling the field while winning easily.
An overflow field of 13 entered the 1 1/16-mile turf race, which will be limited to eight runners. Sanfran and Proud Chief are the only two 3-year-olds in the main draw.
Remington Park in Oklahoma City, which switched to night racing for its 66-date Thoroughbred meet that ended Nov. 28, has reported a sharp increase in handle over the previous year's meet.
Remington handled an average of $549,701 a night on its races from all sources, up 51 percent from last year's average of $364,030. An average of $481,012 a night was bet on the track's races from offsite. Attendance remained about the same as last year, averaging 1,587.
