OPELOUSAS, La. - For the second time in two weeks, a Louisiana track has come to the rescue of a scheduled meeting put in peril by the two hurricanes that ravaged the southern regions of the state in August and September.
Fair Grounds opened an abbreviated season at Louisiana Downs on Nov. 19 because of damage to the New Orleans track from Hurricane Katrina, and on Thursday, Evangeline begins a meet initially slated to be run at Delta Downs, which was damaged by Hurricane Rita.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The decision by the Hollywood Park stewards to disqualify Bob and John from first to third in the Real Quiet Stakes at Hollywood Park last Saturday left the trainer of the promoted winner shocked at the decision and Bob and John's jockey and trainer - Victor Espinoza and Bob Baffert - furious.
The consolation for Espinoza, Baffert, and owners Robert and Janice McNair was the proof that Bob and John belongs on any short list of Kentucky Derby hopefuls.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The field for Thursday's third race at Hollywood Park - a $52,000 allowance optional claimer at 1 3/8 miles on dirt - brings together an improbable cast.
Without turf racing at this meeting, some of the runners are switching surfaces, as opposed to staying in the barn until grass racing resumes when the Santa Anita meeting starts on Dec. 26.
How else would the promising filly , the $16,000 claimer Sigfreto, and the Carleton Burke Handicap winner Golden Rahy wind up in the same race, along with Like a Tiger and Outta Here?
Trainer Bruce Levine knows Potrisunrise loves the Aqueduct inner track. The one time Potrisunrise ran over it, last February, he was a smashing winner. In Thursday's featured eighth race, Levine will find out if liking the course is enough to get the 8-year-old back into a positive groove.
The six-furlong race, an allowance with an optional claiming price of $75,000, has attracted a tough band of seven horses chasing a $49,000 purse.
CHICAGO - The mercury almost hit 60 degrees early this week in Chicago. It was forecast to dip into the teens Tuesday night. Balm and rain one day, snow and ice the next - it would be folly to expect a horse racing surface to remain uniform.
Some call the variations in track surface a bias. Others resist the term, but however the situation is described, handicappers would be foolish not to account for prevailing conditions.
ALBANY, Calif. - Will the third time be a charm for Chulita?
A speedy 2-year-old filly, has cut out a fast pace only to fade in the final furlong in her past two starts. On Thursday, she gets her third chance at notching her second career victory in a $40,000 starter allowance at six furlongs.
Once again, she appears to hold the pace advantage.
The possibility of rain before Thursday's race works to her advantage, too, since her pedigree indicates that she will be able to handle the wet track.
Delta Downs in Vinton, La., has been working feverishly to repair damage inflicted by Hurricane Rita, and expects to conduct a 40-date meet from Jan. 18 to March 25. The Louisiana Racing Commission approved the dates during a meeting at Delta on Monday.
The hurricane, which hit on Sept. 24, forced the transfer of some of the track's dates to Evangeline Downs, which opens a 26-date meet on Thursday. Delta was originally scheduled to race for 88 dates beginning Oct. 21.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - No Sox Fox, a rallying third in his first start over the Woodbine oval, could spring a mild upset here in Thursday's $71,300 feature.
The six-furlong race, a third-level allowance with an optional claiming clause of $80,000, attracted a field of six.
No Sox Fox, a British Columbia-bred 3-year-old gelding owned by Simichiello Stable, is one of three horses who shipped here from Vancouver this fall with trainer Bob Rohman.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Handle from California bettors helped boost handle at the 2005 Hastings meet, which concluded Sunday.
Average daily all-sources handle on the races at Hastings was $848,031, an 8.3 percent increase from last year's average of $783,019. Total handle this year was $69,538,540 for 82 racing days, compared with last year's total of $54,811,328 for 70 racing days.
