Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Naughty New Yorker looking good

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Naughty New Yorker made a successful jump from maiden winner to stakes winner last month, rallying from far back to take the Damon Runyon Stakes by 8 1/2 lengths.

Saturday, glory last year.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Two rivals can break deadlock

PORTLAND, Ore. - Quiz the Maid and Pete's Dolly will be rematched in Saturday's best race at Portland Meadows, a $7,000 overnight handicap at a mile that has drawn a field of seven fillies and mares.

Quiz the Maid and Pete's Dolly first met in a similar race on Dec. 4, when Quiz the Maid staged a remarkable stretch rally to collar the pacesetting Pete's Dolly near the wire in 1:39. It was the seventh win from nine local starts for the 4-year-old Quiz the Maid, who is trained by Jim Fergason.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Tamburello headed for Saudi Arabia

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Tamburello, shown winning the Gallant Fox, will be pointed for Saudi Arabia's King's Cup.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Tamburello, winner of the Gallant Fox Handicap in his last start, has been sold to Saudi Arabian interests and will be pointed to the King's Cup, a 2 1/8-mile race run on Feb. 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Mike Miceli, who owned and trained Tamburello during his stint in North America, could not reveal to whom Tamburello was sold or for how much.

"He has been sold to the Saudis, but the owner requested to be anonymous," Miceli said Thursday. "The transaction was made [Wednesday] and they picked the horse up this morning."

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Rockport Harbor at Oaklawn

Rockport Harbor, a top Kentucky Derby candidate trained by John Servis, arrived at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., on Thursday morning from his base at Philadelphia Park. He is pointing for Oaklawn's 3-year-old series, which Servis swept last year with Smarty Jones, who went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

After his 20-hour van ride, Rockport Harbor was placed in the same stall Smarty Jones occupied last year.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Wooden Phone nears first start since 2003

NEW ORLEANS - Wooden Phone, a multiple graded-stakes winner who has been sidelined since August 2003, is in training at Fair Grounds under the care of Bret Calhoun and is expected to return to the races in the coming weeks.

The 8-year-old gelding, owned by James and Marilyn Helzer and Tom Durant, won the Grade 2 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita in 2001 and the Grade 2 San Pasqual Handicap in 2002 while in trainer Bob Baffert's barn.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Sherman saddles 1,500th winner

ALBANY, Calif. - Art Sherman scored the 1,500th training victory of his career when Mountain Mustang ($5) won the sixth race at Golden Gate Fields on Thursday.

The 67-year-old Sherman came to the track 51 years ago working for Rex Ellsworth. He traveled with Ellsworth's Swaps to the Kentucky Derby and the famous match race with Nashua.

After a 22-year riding career, he retired and served for a year as an assistant to Paul Guidotti and later worked briefly as a racing official before taking out his training license in 1979.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Delta runner's ID probed

Stewards at Delta Downs and the Louisiana State Racing Commission are conducting an investigation to determine whether the horse who ran as Swim Easy in last Saturday's seventh race at Delta was actually a different runner from the barn of Swim Easy's trainer, Kearney Segura.

Judy Dugas, the state steward at Delta, confirmed that the investigation centered on the identity of the horse who raced as Swim Easy, but said that she could not discuss the incident further pending the outcome of the investigation.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Fancy M.D. comes with a will to win

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Bill Morey hasn't achieved a win rate of over 20 percent the past two years by running horses in the wrong spots.

And though the Morey-trained Fancy M.D. seems up against it on paper in Saturday's Golden Gate Fields feature, it would be wise to give him a long look in the $25,000 optional claimer at five furlongs.

Morey has seen Fancy M.D. win for tags of $12,500 and $16,000 since claiming him for $8,000 on Oct. 9. Morey had claimed the gelding once before and lost him for $10,000.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

'Honor' back in stakes

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Beautiful Honor, who turned in one of the most impressive performances of the new meeting last out Dec. 18, moves back into stakes company Saturday, when she tops a field of 14 fillies and mares in the $60,000 Minaret Stakes at six furlongs.

Thu, 01/06/2005 - 00:00

Unbeaten Maysville steps up

Maysville, who has been in front at every call while winning her two career starts by a combined 17 1/4 lengths, makes her stakes debut in Saturday's $50,000 Marshua at Pimlico.

The six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies attracted a field of six.

, an $85,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale in July 2003, began her career for trainer Mike Pino in a $25,000 maiden claiming race at Delaware Park in November. Luckily for owner Daniel Ryan, nobody filled out a claiming slip for Maysville, who romped by 15 1/2 lengths.