FORT ERIE, Ontario - Tobin's Gabby has replaced Storming on Merit as the queen of the female quarter-milers at Fort Erie.
Tobin's Gabby, 6, has won all three of the two-furlong races restricted to fillies and mares that have been carded so far at the meet. The latest was on Monday, when she put away nine opponents.
"She just loves to run that quarter-mile," said Tobin's Gabby's jockey, Melissa Polkey. "She comes out flying now. And if a horse comes to her, she hits another gear and she's gone."
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Add trainer Sanford Shulman to the ever-growing list of horsemen who appreciate the addition of a turf course at the Sonoma County Fair.
He'll send graded stakes winner Pickle from Southern California to attempt to win the first turf stakes in Santa Rosa history Saturday when she meets six rivals in the $50,000-added Luther Burbank at 1 1/16 miles.
"I saw the race, and it looked like a good prep for her," Shulman said.
Afleet Alex, the leading 3-year-old in the nation following his dramatic wins in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, has sustained a hairline condylar fracture to his left front cannon bone and will miss both the Haskell Invitational and the Travers.
The injury is not considered career-ending, and Afleet Alex's connections said they are hopeful he will make his comeback in the fall, with the year-end target remaining the Breeders' Cup.
DEL MAR, Calif. - A slight mishap at the start could not prevent Cougar Mtn Lodge from scoring his first stakes win in Wednesday's $125,000 Graduation Stakes at Del Mar.
Cougar Mtn Lodge ($3.80) rallied from fifth to win the Graduation by two lengths, finishing 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.23. Blaze It, who dueled for the early lead, held second, finishing 1 1/2 lengths of Irish Bar in the field of seven state-bred 2-year-olds.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Thursday's eight race program at Del Mar features a carryover of $118,879, which adds intrigue to a modest program.
The pick six covers the third through eighth races and three of those races are for maiden claimers. In addition, there is a maiden special weight races over six furlongs, a starter allowance for sprinters and a claiming race on turf.
There were only a few changes to the program when scratches were conducted on Wednesday.
In the fourth race, Fill the Temple is scratched from the also-eligible list.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Taco Willy ($30) overcame a troubled trip with a strong rail rally to win the first race ever run on the newly installed turf course at the Sonoma County Fair.
Though boxed in on the second turn, Taco Willy got room along the rail in the stretch and rallied to defeat Marcutio by 1 1/2 lengths in the 1 1/16 mile race. The winning time was 1:43.32 in the $12,500 claimer.
Barrington Harvey rode the winner for trainer Gloria Buckridge.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The 2005 Saratoga meet stumbled out of the blocks.
From a spill in the first race, to a mutuel meltdown in the second race, to a lack of working televisions and tote boards throughout the plant, to horsemen upset with the security barn, the 137th Saratoga season opened with a whimper.
"It's been a trying day," said Charles Hayward, president and CEO of the New York Racing Association, which runs Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A year ago when Ready's Gal easily won her first two starts on the dirt at Saratoga, her connections probably didn't think her future would be as a turf horse.
On Friday at Saratoga, is among eight 3-year-old fillies entered in the Grade 3 Lake George at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Last year, Ready's Gal, a daughter of More Than Ready, won her maiden and an allowance race at Saratoga, before finishing second in the Grade 1 Frizette. That was the end of her success on the dirt.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The furious front-running style that Bella Banissa and Very Vegas each used to win her last start was good practice for Friday's $75,000 Daisycutter Handicap at Del Mar.
The Daisycutter is run over five furlongs on turf and the field of eight fillies and mares is full of front-runners.
