Tue, 06/28/2005 - 00:00

Blinding Prospect dominates series

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Blinding Prospect has come into his own during the Lone Star Park meet, and will attempt to remain undefeated in the track's turf starter series when he races next in the 1 1/2-mile finale July 16.

Blinding Prospect has started in three of the four starter-series races run so far this meet, and has won each time. Overall, he is 5 for 6 in 2005.

"He's come a long way this year," said Jim Hudson, who trains Blinding Prospect. "About the last five or six months, he has really improved. Every race he has gotten better and better.

Tue, 06/28/2005 - 00:00

No Wheels looks tough to catch on drop

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Just how good is the 4-year-old gelding No Wheels?

Thursday's feature at the Alameda County Fair, an $18,000 to $20,000 claimer at six furlongs, might give trainer Jerry Hollendorfer better perspective on him.

, part of a Hollendorfer entry with Bolted Heart in a field with seven betting interests, began his career with a 7 1/2-length win in a bottom-level $8,000 maiden claimer.

He set quick early fractions and got an 86 Beyer Speed Figure for the wire-to-wire score against 10 rivals.

Tue, 06/28/2005 - 00:00

Back to sidelines for Three Hour Nap

Benoit & Associates
Three Hour Nap (inside) defeated Devilment by a neck Sunday, but sustained a slight crack in a cannon bone.

CHICAGO - Just as he came back into form, Three Hour Nap is going back to the farm.

Two days after saddling Three Hour Nap to win an overnight stakes, a prep for the Round Table Stakes, trainer Hugh Robertson said Three Hour Nap had come out of last Sunday's race with an injury and would miss the rest of the season.

Tue, 06/28/2005 - 00:00

Happy Ticket's plans include Calder, Saratoga

Happy Ticket might be spending some of her summer in Miami as well as at Saratoga. But not to chill. Happy Ticket will be hitting some of summer's hippest vacation spots for work. She could make her next start in the Grade 2, $500,000 Princess Rooney at six furlongs at Calder Race Course on July 9, said her trainer, Andrew Leggio.

Happy Ticket is also being considered for the Grade 1, $250,000 Ballerina Handicap at seven furlongs at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 28.

"We'll just play it by ear," said Leggio.

Tue, 06/28/2005 - 00:00

Dance With Ravens done for year

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - One Queen's Plate mystery has been cleared up but there is little solace in the solution.

Dance With Ravens, the Plate favorite, finished a lackluster seventh, beaten 10 3/4 lengths in the first non-competitive effort of his seven-race career. On Tuesday his trainer, Mark Frostad, announced that Dance With Ravens was through for the season.

"He has a chip in an ankle, and he'll have to have surgery on it," said Frostad. "I knew there was no way he could run that badly unless something had happened. This explains the performance."

Mon, 06/27/2005 - 00:00

Highly unpredictable

Horsephotos
Ransom Demanded tries for his first stakes victory in the Beau's Eagle on Wednesday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Ransom Demanded has run a game third and a poor eighth in two appearances on turf in his nine-race career. The disparity between those performances has left trainer Christopher Paasch unsure what to expect when Ransom Demanded starts in the $53,000 Beau's Eagle Stakes at Hollywood Park on Wednesday.

"I'm up in the air about it," Paasch said. "On paper, he belongs. There is nowhere else to run."

is one of six runners in the Beau's Eagle, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race restricted to 3-year-olds who are not stakes winners.

Mon, 06/27/2005 - 00:00

Forest Grove looking for a rider

Benoit & Associates
Forest Grove, winning the Los Angeles Times Handicap under Corey Nakatani, will make his first Grade 1 start in Sunday's Triple Bend Handicap.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Forest Grove is the 118-pound topweight for the $350,000 Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park on Sunday. A 4-year-old colt, he scored the most important win of his career here in May, when he won the Grade 3 Los Angeles Times Handicap.

So why can't trainer Eoin Harty find a jockey to ride Forest Grove in the Triple Bend?

"That seems a little bizarre," he said.

Mon, 06/27/2005 - 00:00

Travers prices upped

It will cost fans a little more to attend this year's Travers Stakes at Saratoga, but the price increase will not be as dramatic as the ones the New York Racing Association instituted for the Belmont Stakes.

General admission for Travers Day, Aug. 27, has been increased from $3 to $5 while clubhouse admission will be $10, up from $5. Ticket prices have not been raised. Clubhouse seats for Travers Day range from $22 to $25, while grandstand seats are $17 and $18. Prices for the Belmont Stakes were increased more than 50 percent in most cases.

Mon, 06/27/2005 - 00:00

Carryover, Artax spice up action

ELMONT, N.Y. - After a couple of weeks of rather mundane racing at Belmont Park, things pick up Wednesday with a healthy pick-six carryover, the return of two talented sprinters from injury, and the $60,000 Artax, an overnight handicap for sprinters.

While pick-six players chase the $51,626 carryover after Sunday's parade of longshots, the intrigue on Wednesday's card begins in race 3 - one race before the pick six begins - when stakes winners Roman Ruler and Commentator meet in a third-level allowance race.

Mon, 06/27/2005 - 00:00

Soft spot turns treacherous

Four-Footed Fotos
Roman Ruler (above), a two-time graded stakes winner, and Commentator, unbeaten around one turn, meet in an allowance sprint Wednesday.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Though Roman Ruler will make his next start at Belmont Park, it's coming five days earlier than anticipated.

Rather than run in next Monday's Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes, Roman Ruler is entered to run in a third-level allowance race Wednesday at Belmont. But if trainer Bob Baffert was hoping to bring Roman Ruler back to the races in a soft spot, this was not it. The seven-furlong race also drew Commentator, a talented 4-year-old New York-bred who is 5 for 5 around one turn, including a sharp victory in last fall's Perryville Stakes at Keeneland.