SAN MATEO, Calif. - Despite his relative inexperience as a trainer, Daniel Franko has enjoyed quite a bit of success with turf runners. He has been winning with 17 percent of his runners on grass and they have given bettors a return of $3.94.
On Thursday, he saddles Frew in the Bay Meadows feature, a $40,000 starter allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the turf that attracted eight 3-year-olds and up.
Happy Ticket could be Breeders' Cup bound. Happy Ticket, a Louisiana-bred filly who improved her record to 10 for 11 last month at Saratoga when she won the Grade 1 Ballerina, is being pointed for the Grade 1 Beldame and then, perhaps, the Breeders' Cup, said her trainer, Andrew Leggio Jr.
The 1 1/8-mile Beldame will be run Oct. 1 at Belmont Park, and with a good performance, Happy Ticket would remain in New York and train up to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at the same distance Oct. 29.
MIAMI - Hurricane Rita won't affect live racing at Calder this week but it did have an impact on training, as track officials closed both the main and training tracks on Tuesday morning. They also canceled Tuesday's simulcast card because of the storm.
Calder suffered significant damage and canceled one live racing program last month because of Hurricane Katrina.
POMONA, Calif. - The key premise of handicapping is that horses replicate their performances - they do what they have done. It's obvious stuff, until a 2-year-old race such as Thursday's $60,000 Gateway to Glory Stakes at Fairplex Park comes along.
None of the Gateway to Glory starters has raced beyond 6 1/2 furlongs; on Thursday, the six young runners stretch out to 1 1/16 miles in a race that will determine their immediate futures. Some will be limited to sprint careers; others will improve at long distances, including favorite Irish Bar.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Eight older fillies and mares from diverse backgrounds converge in Thursday's $65,000 Sky Beauty Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile route on the main track for nonwinners of a stakes race this year.
, who 11 days ago gave futile chase to Breeders' Cup-bound Stellar Jayne in the Grade 1 Ruffian Handicap, takes a big class drop and looks like the logical favorite off her big-figure win at Saratoga two starts back.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes-placed 2-year-old Top Authority heads the first of two co-featured entry-level allowances on Thursday's nine-race card at Woodbine.
Top Authority, a California-bred colt trained by Mark Casse, won his debut in June and subsequently finished third behind Edenwold and Kentucky shipper Key West Breeze in the six-furlong Colin Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It didn't take long for Alberta-based owner Danny Dion to make his mark in Ontario racing.
Dion, who races as Bear Stables Ltd., had his first winner here last Sunday when Bear's Kid, who had finished second in the prep for the Summer Stakes on Sept. 1, came back to upset the under jockey Jim McAleney.
And, just to make the occasion a little more memorable, the Summer happened to be a Grade 2 stakes with a purse of $284,300.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The aptly named Leroidesanimaux, French for "King of the Animals," overwhelmed his opposition in the $1,001,600 on Sunday at Woodbine, taking the ninth running of the turf event by 7 3/4 lengths over 26-1 shot Mobil.
It was the eighth consecutive win for Leroidesanimaux, who firmly established himself as the continent's leading turf miler. After the Grade 1 race, trainer Bobby Frankel said Leroidesanimaux, a Brazilian-bred 5-year-old, would likely be supplemented to the Breeders' Cup Mile on Oct. 29 at Belmont Park, at a cost of $135,000.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The connections of Connie Belle must be hoping that a change of venue will bring a change of luck for their 3-year-old turf filly.
Connie Belle had trouble in both of her stakes appearances at Saratoga. Wednesday, with a clean trip, she appears the one to beat in the $65,000 Auntie Mame Stakes at Belmont Park. The Auntie Mame, scheduled for one mile on the Widener Turf, is for 3-year-old fillies who have yet to win a stakes on the grass.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum's spending spree last week was not restricted to yearlings.
Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin Racing Inc. purchased the impressive juvenile winner Discreet Cat late last week from owner Joyce Robsham and trainer Stanley Hough.
Discreet Cat, a son of Forestry, was transferred to trainer Rick Mettee's barn at Belmont Park. The purchase price on the colt was not disclosed.
