OZONE PARK, N.J. - With the grass-racing season winding down, the $65,000 Soaring Softly Stakes Saturday at Aqueduct was hugely popular at the entry box Thursday.
The 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies drew a full field of 10 with five more consigned to the also-eligible list. A 16th horse, Merrill Gold, was entered as a main-track-only runner.
Wild Chick looks like a top contender following a seven-length turf allowance victory most recently at The Meadowlands Racetrack.
The versatility Charming Socialite has shown this year left his connections a difficult decision over for Saturday night's Texas Champions Day card at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
Charming Socialite is a stakes winner on dirt and turf and at different distances, indicating he could be competitive in the program's $100,000 Star of Texas at 1 1/16 miles, the $50,000 Richard King Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on turf, or the $50,000 Spirit of Texas Sprint.
It has been a year of close calls for multiple stakes winner Agrivating General, who can pick up his first win of 2005 on Saturday night in the $100,000 Star of Texas Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
A 1 1/16-mile race, the Star of Texas is one of eight stakes for Texas-breds on the annual Texas Champions Day card. Purses for the stakes total $475,000, and the program is the richest of the meet at Sam Houston.
A 6-year-old, has yet to win in nine starts this year, but he has placed second or third in five stakes since April.
Fans and horsemen at Hawthorne had their first real taste of things to come on Wednesday when wintry conditions caused the cancellation of racing after the third race. The skies were clear but the temperature still below freezing when racing resumed on Thursday, though temperatures were expected to be back in the 40's on Saturday.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Fair Grounds has moved to Louisiana Downs for the winter, but there is as much focus on the racing facility in New Orleans right now as on the race meet that starts Saturday in Bossier City, and work to bring the racetrack back from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina will accelerate over the winter.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Happy Ticket seriously displaced her palate when she finished 11th in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, and after having surgery to repair the problem, she is stabled with trainer Andy Leggio here at Louisiana Downs. And while Happy Ticket is merely being walked around Leggio's barn right now and has yet to even resume light training, Leggio said he remains hopeful that the best Louisiana-bred in the country will be ready to race before the end of the Fair Grounds at Louisiana Downs meet in late January.
Hawthorne Race Course has trimmed purses by 7 percent for the remainder of its fall-winter meet. The purse cut takes effect Sunday. The Hawthorne meet began Sept. 23 and runs through Jan. 2.
Thomas Carey, Hawthorne's president, said out-of-state handle at the meet had been solid, but declines in in-state and on-track handle, which produce higher commissions for the host track, had spurred the cut.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Delta Princess made sensational rallies to sweep the Mint Julep and Locust Grove handicaps at the Churchill Downs spring meet, it was if she was saying, "Bring on all comers."
Well, they came. The return of Delta Princess to Churchill on Saturday coincides with a veritable onslaught of high-class filly-mare turf specialists who will run in the Cardinal Handicap, which strongly suggests that this running of the Grade 3 race is one of the deepest in its 32-year history.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Beulah Park canceled racing for a second consecutive day Thursday as the track mourned the loss of 16-year-old apprentice rider Josh Radosevich, who died in a spill here in Wednesday's third race.
Radosevich was aboard pacesetting Nyoka, who broke down in upper stretch. Radosevich landed hard on the muddy racing surface and died as a result of massive neck and chest trauma caused by the fall.
Radosevich began his career as a jockey on Oct. 6 at Beulah Park, and made quick progress. He won with 19 of his 92 career mounts.
The Breeders' Cup's eight championship races sent handle and attendance figures soaring for the Belmont Park fall meet that ended Oct. 30.
When the Breeders' Cup numbers are excluded, the figures show a slight uptick in average daily handle from last year. In totals released Thursday, the average handle on Belmont from all sources was $9,577,751, an increase of 0.2 percent.
Gross handle from all sources increased by more than $29 million due to three additional racing days this year aside from the Breeders' Cup.
