ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer John Ward is taking a somewhat unconventional approach with For All We Know in Saturday's $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.
For All We Know is undefeated in three starts, but has never raced in a stakes or beyond a mile. The Coaching Club American Oaks is a Grade 1 at 1 1/4 miles.
Ward said it's "a strange way" to introduce For All We Know to stakes company.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Unbeaten Joey P faces an important test Friday in the featured $47,000 allowance race at Monmouth Park.
If Joey P, the winner of the Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup Stakes, fares well Friday in his first two-turn race, it's on to the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Aug. 7.
A 3-year-old New Jersey-bred, Joey P puts a five-race winning streak on the line in the one-mile race. Joe Bravo, the meet's leading rider, will be aboard for trainer Frank Costa.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - A funny thing happened early Wednesday afternoon at Arlington Park. It rained.
The Chicago area is wrapped in drought, a drought categorized as D3, or extreme drought, by the National Weather Service. Distinguishing characteristics on the weather service scale include: "major crop/pasture losses; extreme fire danger; widespread water shortages or restrictions."
VALLEJO, Calif. - Trainer Jim Barnes doesn't have a big stable, but he gets the most he can from it.
Barnes is hoping that Snowbound Nan, whom he claimed for $5,000 in her comeback on May 25, can go 2 for 2 for him in Friday's Solano County Fair feature, a $12,500 claimer at five furlongs.
The field of six fillies and mares contains five pace types who want the lead, plus Smoke 'n Triumph, who figures to be last early.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Friday's allowance feature, for those who have not won a race "other than" since March, is loaded with stakes horses. The six-furlong headliner could produce a starter or two for the Island Whirl Stakes on July 20.
While back-class abounds, consistent recent form is a little difficult to come by in the race. The public is therefore likely to have a difficult time determining a favorite. That honor could fall to , who comes off an improved second-place performance.
Omar Camejo, the jockey injured in a spill at Finger Lakes racetrack on Tuesday, was in guarded condition Wednesday at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., with a punctured lung and three cracked ribs, according to a spokeswoman for Camejo's family.
The spokesperson, Julie Pierson, the fianc?e of Camejo's agent, Pedro Carrasquel, said that Camejo was communicating with his wife using hand signals on Wednesday morning.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It appears to be the year of the apprentice in Canada. At the three major tracks - Woodbine, Fort Erie, and Hastings - the leading riders are apprentices. In the case of Woodbine, the top two riders - Emma Wilson and Corey Fraser - are both apprentices.
Acts Like a King, an 8 1/2-length winner of the Hoover Stakes on Sunday, will likely be pointed toward the Cradle Stakes on Sept. 5, trainer Kris Nemann said. Acts Like a King might start next in the $25,000 Cradle Prep at a mile and 70 yards, a race traditionally run three weeks before the Cradle.
Trying to determine which party - the horse, the jockey, or the trainer - is most responsible for a Thoroughbred's success is racing's equivalent to the chicken-and-egg debate. But when it comes to determining whether races should be canceled, the jockey reigns supreme.
While it is not surprising that the jockey standings are tight nearing the halfway point of the meeting, the rider who is giving defending champ C. J. Woodley a run for this year's title is. B. J. Hernandez, whose son B. J. Jr. has garnered more attention in the last couple of seasons in both Louisiana and Kentucky, is quietly having a solid meeting. He has 33 wins and trails Woodley by only 3 heading into this week's action. Steve Bourque is third with 23 wins, followed by Jason Eads, who is also enjoying a good meeting.
