OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct's main track will open on Friday with a pick-six carryover of $138,861.
The wager went unhit for the second straight day as longshot Ink the Deal ($75) won Thursday's fourth race, the first leg of the pick six. The remainder of the sequence was quite formful with Golder Than Gold ($7.40), Bookem ($6.70), Epoxy ($4.60), Keesler ($5.40), and Shake You Up ($10.40) all winning. Thursday was the last day of racing over the inner track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The piles of snow in the parking lot notwithstanding, spring arrives for New York horseplayers on Friday with the long-awaited opening of Aqueduct's main track. Originally scheduled to open on March 9, the start of the main track was twice delayed because of Mother Nature.
Though temperatures are still below normal, the mercury has reached the mid-40's the last few days and nothing white or wet has fallen from the sky in a week.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There is a theory that late-running horses who performed poorly at Gulfstream Park this winter will do better when they move to another surface. The theory is based in part on the fact that the kickback of dirt from the renovated main track was very hard, and that many horses would not run through it.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Afleet Alex might have it all after Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 at Oaklawn. His stellar reesume includes the No. 1 spot on Daily Racing Form's Derby Watch, a Grade 1 win, and the highest Beyer Speed Figure earned by a 3-year-old in 2005. The one credential he lacks is a two-turn win, something he will be favored to accomplish in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel.
Heck, Afleet Alex even has his own website, www.afleetalex.com, which was to launch on Thursday.
Sun King will be the leading man on Saturday's Festival Day program at Tampa Bay Downs. The question remains whether the leading lady, Sis City, will be there, too.
Sun King will be the odds-on favorite, perhaps as short as 1-10, in a short field expected for the $250,000, Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby. Sis City will also be odds-on if she runs in the $150,000 Tampa Oaks. The $100,000 Hillsborough Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf and the $75,000 Holiday Inn Turf Dash round out the Festival Day stakes lineup.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The fractions in the Grade 2 San Felipe on Saturday just got a whole lot quicker. The improving front-runner Lucky J.H. will tackle many of the circuit's best 3-year-olds in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe, his first start against open company. The presence of Lucky J.H. assures company for Roman Ruler, and virtually guarantees that the San Felipe will unfold at a legitimate pace.
Lucky J.H. has won 3 of 6, including a fast-pace win on Feb. 17 in which he pressed a 45.84-second half-mile and earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The simplicity of handicapping a grass race is neatly summarized by trainer John Shirreffs, whose Makeup Artist will be among the favorites in the best race Friday at Santa Anita.
"She has been in stakes, so we're putting her back in an allowance race to get her going," Shirreffs said. "She's fit."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Bill Mott was in town for his weekly visit to inspect the troops as well as to watch several members of his Gulfstream-based stable breeze over the racetrack Wednesday morning. Mott was also accepting congratulations for pulling off a stakes double last Sunday when he sent out Old Forester to upset the $100,000 Canadian Turf Handicap and Sand Springs for a narrow victory over Potra Fabulous in the Grade 3, $100,000 Honey Fox.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - His credentials are impeccable.
Senhor Cati started three times in his native Brazil and recorded three victories, by 9 1/4, 10 1/4, and 6 1/4 lengths.
On Friday, he makes his U.S. debut, running in a first-level allowance race for trainer Paulo Lobo. But is he the one to beat in the Bay Meadows feature?
