The Niner Account has gone from $350,000 sales topper, to $10,000 claimer, to multiple stakes winner, and in a five-furlong turf allowance at Remington Park in Oklahoma City on Friday night he will try for his 18th career victory.
was meant to be a top athlete but a tendon injury to his right foreleg as a young horse compromised his career. Not long after winning a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs and finishing third in a Belmont Park allowance, he descended into the claiming ranks.
D. D. Night Star, a claimer before finishing a close second in a rapidly run sprint stakes last out, should be formidable if she can duplicate her most recent performance in Friday night's $50,000 Blue Mountain Juvenile at Penn National.
The six-furlong race for Pennsylvania-bred 2-year-old fillies drew a field of 11.
Lone Star Park will remain open as a training center following the close of its Quarter Horse meet on Sunday. The development means new stabling options for trainers based in north Texas, as well as those displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"In light of the disrupted schedule in Louisiana, horsemen all over are looking for places to go," said Jeff Greco, vice president and general manager of Lone Star.
Goosey Moose is getting a vacation.
Slewpy's Storm likely locked up champion older filly or mare honors from the Texas Thoroughbred Association with her win in the $75,000 Martanza Stakes at Sam Houston on Saturday night. It was her third stakes win of the year, and her point total continues to dominate her division's standings, which are compiled by the TTA.
This summer, Slewpy's Storm won the $100,000 Allen Bogan Memorial for Texas-breds at Lone Star Park and the $50,000 Delicada at Louisiana Downs. She was a front-running 1 1/4-length winner of the Martanza.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - By this time next year, Pampered Princess will be fatter than a Thanksgiving turkey. But when she bids farewell to racetrack life Thursday in the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs, the mare still figures to be fit and trim enough to get the gravy.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For Perfect Drift and his connections, the pattern has become an extremely familiar one.
Return to the races in April. Run in the Breeders' Cup Classic and maybe one more race. Knock out a million bucks or so. Then head back to the farm to get ready to do it all over again.
Indeed, after Perfect Drift makes his final start of the year Friday in the 131st Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, the same cycle will have been completed for the fourth straight year.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A hot pace and a sloppy track was a recipe for success for Thunder Touch in last year's Fall Highweight Handicap. Both conditions could be in play on Thursday when Thunder Touch seeks a repeat in the Thanksgiving Day feature at Aqueduct.
First post Thursday is 11:25 a.m. Eastern with the last post scheduled for 3:13 p.m.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There is a good chance Todd Pletcher will have already established the single-season mark for earnings by a trainer by the time Saturday's $350,000 Cigar Mile is run at Aqueduct. But if he hasn't, he will have a very strong chance to do it in New York's last Grade 1 stakes of the year.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Sure, everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby, but depending on where you grow up, there are regional prizes that tug at the heart. In Southern California, it's the Santa Anita Handicap. In Boston, it's the Massachusetts Handicap. And in the Pacific Northwest, it's the Longacres Mile.
For trainer Grant Forster, winning the Grade 3 Longacres Mile in August was not only the most lucrative victory of his career, but the most emotional.
