EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Defrere the Smile exceeded the early expectations of trainer Alan Seewald, winning his first race by nine lengths.
"At first, he didn't show that type of ability," Seewald said. "He got better and better as we got closer to racing him. He ran even better than I thought he'd run."
Defrere the Smile can elevate expectations again on Friday night at The Meadowlands in his stakes debut in the colt-and-gelding division of the New Jersey Futurity.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Trainer Mike Dini has won 15 races all season, actually not a bad year for his low-key racing stable. In fact, Dini is known to many horse people in the Midwest as much for his horse-hauling business as his training. But Dini and his owner, John Orecchio, have come up with a very nice sprinter named Wild Tale, a horse claimed for just $25,000 in September 2004 and who now operates at the graded stakes level. On Breeders' Cup Day at Belmont Park, Wild Tale almost overcame serious early trouble, finishing a fast-closing third in the $250,000 Sport Page Handicap.
Teller Cartel rose to the top of Quarter Horse racing with an upset win in the $1.9 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Sept. 5. His position may be tenuous, at best.
Friday at Los Alamitos, Teller Cartel starts as the favorite in the $1,145,000 Golden State Million Futurity at 400 yards. He may not be trainer Paul Jones's best chance.
Jones speaks highly of Teller Cartel, but is also tipping In Dispute, who set the fourth fastest qualifying time in trials on Oct. 21.
Zia has passed the halfway point of its inaugural season, and handle on its mixed cards of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races has averaged about $234,000 a day, according to officials at the Hobbs, N.M., track. Purses to date have averaged $167,000 a program, a figure that does not include the $1.2 million that will be distributed Sunday during the track's New Mexico Cup.
Trainer Jeff Radosevich and jockey Scott Spieth are each having career seasons.
Radosevich ranks 14th by wins in the national standings, with 127 winners from 570 starts. Radosevich keeps busy by caring for approximately 70 horses at Thistledown, Mountaineer, and on a local farm.
Before becoming a trainer in December 1993, Radosevich was a jockey for 16 years. He was Thistledown's winningest rider in 1988.
Handle on Hoosier Park's simulcast signal reached record highs on consecutive nights last weekend as handle was more than $2.3 million on both Friday and Saturday evenings.
Friday's card handled a record $2,323,182 from offtrack sources and a combined total of $2,369,847 from ontrack and offtrack. The following night eclipsed that mark, as a combined total of $2,422,170 was wagered on the live card. Both nights set handle records for Hoosier's 11-year history of Thoroughbred racing.
Rockem Sockem's overwhelming 13-length victory in the Michigan Sire Stakes last month earned him repeat honors as Michigan horse of the year at Tuesday's awards ceremony at Great Lakes Downs. Rockem Sockem is owned by the meet's champion owner, Henry Mast, and trained by Dr. Bob Gorham.
Rockem Sockem won just twice this year, also taking the Wolverine Stakes in June, but was second in four other starts, including two stakes. Gorham said that Rockem Sockem, now 4, will get a 60-day rest before preparing for the 2006 Great Lakes meet, which opens on May 6.
Sandy Rettele, a behind-the-scenes stalwart of Nebraska racing for many years, died of a heart attack Oct. 22 at age 57. She was a fixture at program stands at the Columbus Races and did the lettering for the several hundred horse blankets presented each year by groups buying sponsorships at racetracks in Nebraska.
She is survived by her husband, former rider Jerry Rettele; her mother; six brothers; and four sisters, including trainer Sally Muckey of Grand Island. Burial was at Bellwood Catholic Cemetery in Bellwood, Neb.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The only two Woodbine-based horses competing in the Breeders' Cup on Saturday at Belmont came up empty, as A Bit O'Gold finished last of 13 in the Classic and Knights Templar finished sixth of 10 in the Juvenile Fillies.
But Catherine Day Phillips, who trains A Bit O'Gold, and Danny Vella, who trains Knights Templar, still were able to dream about what might have been as they looked back on a gloomy Tuesday morning here.
