OCEANPORT, N.J. - Expect a change of tactics for Worldliness in the featured $41,000 allowance race Thursday at Monmouth Park.
Worldliness, a 4-year-old filly, should be in the mix right from the start in the six-furlong race.
She was taken off the pace last time out. That strategy produced a fourth-place finish that ended her winning streak at two.
Trainer Eddie Broome will turn her loose in this spot. He gave the mount to Chuckie Lopez, one of Monmouth's best speed riders.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The nine-race Churchill Downs win streak - a track record - that trainer Joe Woodard takes into the Thursday card will be on the line when he sends out a pair of new acquisitions: Buba's Caper in the fourth race, and Peace and Joy in the sixth.
Although both horses bring forth decent-looking form that could make them among the wagering favorites in their respective races, neither appears to be a standout.
Jockey Eddie Razo is looking to pick up right where he left off.
Razo enjoyed a terrific weekend at Arlington Park by winning the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup aboard Lord of the Game on Saturday and the overnight Mister Gus Stakes aboard Fort Prado on Monday. With the resumption of live racing Thursday, Razo appears to have another live mount in the Arlington feature race.
ALBANY, Calif. - When Somethinaboutlaura had a disastrous debut at Del Mar last summer, trainer Chuck Peery decided to go back to the drawing board.
"We decided to let her grow up and be a 3-year-old when she raced again," he said. "We had the opportunity because [owner] Phil Rowe shows patience. After her bad experience, she just needed to be in a field to forget what happened."
Racing against $40,000 Cal-bred maiden claimers, Somethinaboutlaura steadied at the start and later bore out, finishing last of 11, beaten 23 lengths, in her first lifetime start.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It was third-time lucky for Le Cinquieme Essai when it came to the .
Le Cinquieme Essai had finished ninth in the 2003 running and second last year before prevailing in game fashion in Sunday's Connaught Cup, a 1 1/16-mile turf race at Woodbine.
"He ran very, very well," said trainer Paul Nielsen, who has sent out Le Cinquieme Essai to win 9 of 20 career starts and $804,683 but was starting the gelding for the first time this season.
AUBURN, Wash. - It's three wins in a row and counting for Norm's Nephew, who likely will try to extend his winning streak in the one-mile Tacoma Handicap for 3-year-olds on June 26 at Emerald Downs.
That's what trainer Jimmy Orr suggested after Norm's Nephew, a speedy son of Jazzing Around who races for Gunshy Manor and the trainer's wife, Leona, blitzed four opponents in Monday's Pepsi-Cola Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs here at Emerald.
"I think he'll get a mile if he will relax, and I'm pretty sure he will relax," Orr said.
AUBURN, Wash. - Do's Buckshot heads a field of nine in Thursday's Emerald Downs feature, a $3,500 starter allowance at a mile.
The program is the first of 12 Thursday cards this summer, and each will include a race for lower-level claimers. Many of the horses in these races will race in the Stanislaw Ashbaugh Claiming Challenge on closing day, Oct. 16. The Stanislaw Ashbaugh Claiming Challenge is a series of five starter allowance races with enhanced purses totaling $79,000.
AUBURN, Wash. - Norm's Nephew put away three pace rivals with a sizzling half mile in 43.40, then coasted to a five length victory in Monday's $50,000 Pepsi-Cola Handicap for 3-year-olds at Emerald Downs. Time for the 6 1-2 furlongs was 1:16.
Northern California invader Marsh Creek held second, 1 3-4 lengths ahead of Idabetabuck, the only horse to rate off the pace in a field that was reduced to five by two late scratches.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Nerves have cost Mea Domina graded stakes wins in the past. Her physical ability led to a win in Monday's $441,500 at Hollywood Park.
Leading throughout, Mea Domina won the most important race of her 10-race career in the Grade 1 Gamely, holding off stablemate Solar Echo by a half-length. The one-two finish gave owner Janis Whitham and trainer Ron McAnally their biggest results of the year.
"It was very gratifying," McAnally said.
