PORTLAND, Ore. - Raggidy Rowe is on the road to the April 2 Oregon Derby after proving to be clearly the best of the statebred 3-year-olds in last Saturday's $9,000 McFadden Memorial. Raggidy Rowe will compete in the 1 1/16-mile Preview Stakes on March 12, according to trainer and part-owner M. W. Davis.
"If he runs well in that one, it will be on to the derby," said Davis. "He should love going 1 1/8 miles."
Catch her if you can. Ambition Unbridled is the sheer speed of the $40,000 Citgo, a five-furlong turf race for fillies and mares that will be run Saturday night at Sam Houston Race Park.
A 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled's Song, Ambition Unbridled will be a solid favorite in the race on the heels of her front-running win in the $100,000 Leggio Memorial Handicap at Fair Grounds in her last start Jan. 15. She upset the 5 1/2-furlong turf race at 21-1, leading the field through an opening quarter in 21.80 seconds before going on to win by a half-length for trainer Gammy Vazquez.
Trainer Josie Carroll picks her spots well. She has one stakes win from two starters this meet at Delta Downs, and the mare who won the stakes, So Much More, will return to Vinton, La., for the $50,000 Sweetheart.
The one-mile race for fillies and mares drew a field of six, including leading contender Miss Confusion, who was third last out in the $60,000 Truly Bound Handicap at Fair Grounds.
S C King makes his seasonal debut when he heads a field of seven 3-year-olds entered in the $10,000-added Bachman Stakes at a half-mile.
Trained by Lalita Ontiveros, S C King won three consecutive races last year, including the Club House Special at Columbus, but had his streak snapped in the Woodlands Juvenile, his last appearance of the year. S C King will have Armando Martinez in the irons when he breaks from post 7.
Although he is making his first start of the year, S C King had a solid gate work two weeks ago and should be ready for a solid effort.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Scott Lake might take an ambitious swing with Don Six.
Lake said he is considering the Grade 1, $350,000 Carter Handicap on April 9 for Don Six, a 5-year-old who has made great strides in a short span of time.
"It's really up in the air," Lake said. "The Carter is in the back of our minds, but right now we're not sure."
Owner and breeder Patricia Generazio sent Don Six to Lake following an eighth-place finish in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 28. Don Six had previously been trained by Generazio's husband, Frank.
OLDSMAR Fla. - While the $100,000 Sam Davis tops Saturday's program, the two supporting features - the $100,000 Endeavour Stakes and the $60,000 Suncoast Stakes - have also attracted strong fields.
A 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies on the main track, the Suncoast serves as the final local prep for the $150,000 Florida Oaks, which will be run as part of the Tampa Bay Derby card March 19. The Suncoast drew a field of eight 3-year-old fillies.
CHICAGO - You can't say Silver Bid is going gray, since he started out that way, but two months after his seventh birthday, the best Illinois-bred sprinter in the land has taken on a whitish hue.
Yet even as Silver Bid's coat has lightened with age, the horse remains a heavyweight in the local sprint division.
Come-from-behind victories have long been a trademark for Brett Favre. So it seems only fitting that a Thoroughbred closely named for the Green Bay Packers quarterback has also developed a winning style by charging from off the pace.
, a 3-year-old filly trained by Greg Foley, is 2 for 2 in her career, having captured back-to-back sprints at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. The third start of her career will come Saturday at Turfway, where Brett's Favrette will stretch out to a mile as one of the favorites in the $50,000 Valdale Stakes.
Pimlico's spring meet will be three weeks shorter than usual, but the compressed schedule will still feature 26 stakes worth a collective $4 million, including five stakes on opening weekend.
The marquee meet of the Maryland racing season will run from April 20 through June 12, highlighted by the 130th running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes on May 21.
Racehorses are in a constant state of flux, either improving or regressing from one start to the next. Friel's for Real, however, barely wavers from a straight line.
From January 2004 to New Year's Day 2005, the 5-year-old Friel's for Real made seven starts. She won six times, including the Grade 3 Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap on the Preakness undercard.