AUBURN, Wash. - Danjur officially becomes a hot young stallion on Sunday, when two members of his first crop head a field of seven in the $40,000 Auburn Stakes for 3-year-olds at Emerald Downs.
Danjur, a son of Dayjur who stands at Oakhurst Thoroughbreds in Oregon, is the sire of both One Special Hoss and Typhoon Aaron, who figure to vie for favoritism in the six-furlong Auburn. Both will be making their Emerald Downs debuts after compiling impressive records in Canada and Oregon, respectively.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Surging strongly to the front turning for home under Luis Quinonez, Screen Idol edged clear in the late going to account for Friday's John Franks Memorial Stakes at Louisiana Downs. Spritely Walker, favored at 9-5 in the opening day feature, encountered traffic trouble into the far turn and also entering the stretch but still managed a strong rally when clear to nip Bebe Garcon for the place position with Donna?s Golddigger an equally close fourth.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Macaw, a 6-year-old Irish-bred who loves soft going, drew into the Grade 3 at Keeneland on Friday morning, and that afternoon, he drew off.
Getting into the race only after the scratch of Magistretti, who likely would have been favored over firm ground, Macaw easily beat 11 other horses in the 1 1/2-mile Elkhorn, using a quick turn of foot with two furlongs to run to outkick and then distance himself from the field. Ridden by Javier Castellano in the $200,000 race, Macaw won by 2 1/2 lengths in a time of 2:32.62 over yielding turf at odds of 7-1.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Hennig figures he might have aimed a little too high with Gygistar last year.
The gelding had a solid year, earning almost $300,000. Yet he won only one race, the Grade 3 Westchester Handicap.
Hennig hopes to get Gygistar back to the winner's circle more frequently this season by avoiding a steady diet of Grade 1 races.
A good starting point will be a return appearance in the $100,000 Westchester, the one-mile, opening-day feature at Belmont Park on Wednesday.
Testing for alkalizing agents was to begin at Lone Star Park on Saturday in a program the Texas Racing Commission is using only to collect data.
For at least the next month, blood will be drawn from all starters in two randomly selected races on each Lone Star card. Blood will be drawn by the state veterinarian in the holding barn, just before a horse is brought to the paddock for a race.
The program is a joint effort between the commission, Lone Star, and the Texas Horsemen's Partnership.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - No trainer has been more prominent at the last few Churchill Downs spring meets than Dale Romans. From 2000 to 2003, Romans won or tied for every training title, and last spring, he finished a close second to Steve Asmussen in a down-to-the-wire battle.
But when the 2005 spring meet began Saturday, Romans was barely on the Churchill radar screen. Under normal circumstances, Romans would have had as many as five or six runners for each program on opening weekend, but he had no scheduled starters Saturday and just two on Sunday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A day like Thursday arrived about four days too late for trainer Doug O'Neill.
After going 0 for 15 during the first four days of the Hollywood Park meeting, including an 0-for-10 record on last Sunday's $1.3 million California Gold Rush Day, O'Neill broke out of his mini-slump with two winners on Thursday.
The stable won with Smokin' Vigor ($9.80) in the third race and Impressive Flight ($8.60) in the sixth race.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - My Onomatopoeia has been poetry in motion since leading trainer Jerry Hollendorfer claimed the 4-year-old gelding for $32,000 from a victory on March 4 at Santa Anita.
My Onomatopoeia cleared his first allowance condition by seven lengths March 24, then stepped up to an optional claimer April 13 and scored his second straight wire-to-wire victory. He goes for his third straight win for Hollendorfer, and fourth overall, in Sunday's Bay Meadows feature, an $80,000 optional claimer at one mile on the turf.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Until last month, trainer Bruce Jackson had never started a horse in Texas. He has a good record in the surrounding region, though, winning the Oaklawn Handicap, the Explosive Bid Handicap at Fair Grounds, and the Temperence Hill at Louisiana Downs.
