LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mike Smith said Friday that he will ride on a daily basis throughout the Churchill Downs spring meet, signaling a major shift in a Hall of Fame riding career that has gone full circle, from the Midwest to New York to Southern California and now back to the Midwest.
Smith, 39, said he is trying to rejuvenate a career that had stagnated in recent months in Southern California.
AUBURN, Wash. - The voting for last season's sprinter of the meeting title ended in a tie between Willie the Cat and Slewicide Cruise, and that was only fair.
Willie the Cat was brilliant early in the meet, winning a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race in a world-record 1:01.20, then posting front-running wins in the six-furlong Seattle Handicap and the Fox Sports Net Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The City of Vancouver Stakes was supposed to be the coming-out party for Notis Otis. A British Columbia-bred colt, he was the champion 2-year-old in the province last year and his trainer Tracy McCarthy was looking forward to starting him for the first time this year on Sunday.
When only three horses were nominated, however, and it turned out that the connections of just two were serious about running, the race was canceled.
CALGARY, Alberta - Cinderchance tested stakes foes twice during his juvenile campaign last year and was not disgraced, finishing third in the Sales Stakes and fifth in the Alberta Premier's Futurity, both at Northlands Park. Cinderchance made thee starts in maiden special weight company as well, closing ground each time.
Trainer Rick Hedge has high hopes for Cinderchance, an Alberta-bred son of Incinderator who will make his seasonal bow in Sunday's second race.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows will close its 80-day 2004-05 meeting on Sunday with an 11-race card headed by the 870-yard Mayor's Cup for older Quarter Horses, which has drawn a field of eight to vie for a purse of $5,000-added.
The scheduled Thoroughbred feature, the 1 1/8-mile William Kyne Handicap, which would have featured Portland Meadows Mile runner-up My Friend Dave, was called off for lack of entries.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Reade Baker's barn was strong on the 3-year-old filly front last year with such stakes-caliber representatives as Touchnow, Silver Bird, Ontheqt, and Hong Kong Dancer.
While the names obviously have changed, the situation is similar this year, and Baker will have a quartet of promising fillies in action here Sunday.
Gold Strike and Lucky Tomoli will run in the featured Star Shoot, which Baker won last year with Ontheqt. Baker also will send out River Nore and Whiskey and Low in a first-level Ontario-sired allowance race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Mother Nature could be trainer Graham Motion's best friend or worst enemy on Saturday when he plans to run defending Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now in the $100,000 Fort Marcy Handicap at Aqueduct.
Five of Better Talk Now's eight turf wins have come on courses that were less than firm, including both of his wins over this course. Rain is in the forecast for Saturday, but if it rains too much then the Fort Marcy could be transferred to the dirt.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - By now, one would suspect life would be getting tougher in the filly and mare handicap division in New York. But while we are well into spring, Saturday's $150,000 Bed o' Roses Handicap certainly has a strong taste of winter to it.
Bank Audit, who won the Interborough and Distaff Breeders' Cup handicaps, and Cativa, winner of the Barbara Fritchie at Laurel, head a seven-horse field entered in the Grade 3 Bed o' Roses. Spectacular Moon is the only other graded winner in the field.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The retirement of Sweet Catomine leaves Sis City as the dominant force in the 3-year-old filly division. Her trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., is already dreaming big.
"It would be nice to be able to train a champion,'' Dutrow said Thursday at Aqueduct.
Sis City, whom Dutrow claimed for $50,000 last summer at Saratoga, will be the overwhelming favorite for next month's Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Dutrow has already mapped out the remainder of Sis City's 3-year-old campaign following the Oaks.
The detention barn that is being put in place for the Belmont Park spring meet will require horses to be isolated for at least six hours prior to post time, according to officials of the New York Racing Association, which operates the track.
