The typical conviviality at River Downs in Cincinnati over the Labor Day weekend will be even greater this year than usual. On Sunday, the entire day will be dedicated to Gary Birzer, the former jockey who suffered severe neck and spinal cord injuries on July 20, 2004, during a race at Mountaineer Race Track in West Virginia.
The focus will be on major fund-raising efforts to help offset the expenses that Birzer, 28, and his family have incurred during his lengthy recuperation period.
ANDERSON, Ind. - The outlook for Hoosier Park's 11th season of Thoroughbred racing appears bright as the track begins a 60-day meet Saturday evening with full fields in all 10 Thoroughbred races and four Quarter Horse trials.
The meet is anchored by the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby on Oct. 1 and the Grade 3, $400,000 Indiana Oaks on Sept. 30. Recent winners of the Indiana Derby - which is in its second year as a Grade 2 race - include Brass Hat, Orientate, and Perfect Drift.
Gary Capuano is noted for running a high-percentage stable in Maryland, but rarely bothers to run his horses at the short meet on Timonium's bullring. When he does, watch out.
Over the past five years, Capuano is 9 for 20 at Timonium. In sprint races, he is an even more impressive 7 for 11 with a sterling $6.44 return on investment. Those statistics include victories in the last three runnings of the Alma North Stakes.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - The Minnesota Thoroughbred Association's Stallion Auction Lassie and Laddie stakes - for progeny of stallions whose service was auctioned at the MTA stallion auction of 2000 - are the featured races on Saturday at Canterbury Park.
The $40,000 Lassie Stakes has attracted 10 3-year-old fillies, including Wa Wa Windy, winner of last year's Northern Lights Debutante Stakes. Trained by Mike Biehler, Wa Wa Windy has a quick turn of foot but will be challenged at the 6 1/2-furlong distance of the Lassie. Mike Ziegler will ride.
Bountempo and Sentimental Charm, the one-two finishers in the Canterbury Lassie Stakes in July, have a rematch three hours south in Des Moines, Iowa, as they head a field of seven 2-year-old fillies in the $40,000 Prairie Meadows Debutante.
Bountempo has not raced since winning the 5 1/2-furlong Canterbury Lassie by two lengths over Sentimental Charm. A daughter of Cape Town, Bountempo is undefeated in two career starts.
There are 10 horses in the $40,000 Troy Our Boy Stakes for Illinois-bred 2-year-olds Saturday at Fairmount Park, but the real race might come down to a pair of speedy locals and two Chicago invaders.
The Troy Our Boy is only a six-furlong race, but just one of the horses entered in it has gone beyond 5 1/2. In fact, the Troy Our Boy should draw a line between the precocious five-furlong 2-year-olds of summer and those horses - horses with a little more substance - who will go farther in the fall.
The entry of Fiji Island and Giddy Up Girl heads a field of six Michigan-bred juvenile fillies in the $50,000 Temptress Stakes at Great Lakes Downs. All starters will carry 119 pounds in the Temptress, a six-furlong race that is in its twenty-first running.
Fiji Island and Giddy Up Girl are both trained by James Jackson. Like the rest of the field, they will be trying six furlongs for the first time.
Class versus experience versus a $10,000 supplemental entrant. That will be the battle in San Antonio on Saturday night when Counterfeit Gold, Sheri's Rubiano, and Mexican Train meet in the $100,000 Ketel One El Joven at Retama Park.
The one-mile turf race for 2-year-olds will share a card with the $100,000 M2 Technology La Senorita, for 2-year-old fillies going a mile on turf. The races make for one of the richest cards of the meet, and each drew a full field of 12. The El Joven and La Senorita are also part of a pick four encompassing races 6-9.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - With no turf racing here last week because of scheduled maintenance on the course, players and horsemen alike are eager for a return to the grass. They will get their wish in the form of a competitive 10-horse field in Saturday's $50,000 Lyrique Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies.
