Missy Can Do will carry high weight of 122 pounds when she defends her title against seven other fillies and mares in the $10,000-added Bold Accent Handicap, a four-furlong race at Fonner Park.
Joe Thomas trains Missy Can Do, who won the Bluegrass Handicap at Lincoln last year en route to winning four races and more than $32,000. Curtis Kimes has the mount from post 7. Thomas also sends out Tee Times Two, who will race uncoupled in the wagering.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Allen Iwinski will take his previously announced leave of absence from training horses at the end of April. That is, of course, unless he has good reason to stick around for another five weeks.
That reason would be if Iwinski had a 3-year-old that could take him through the Triple Crown races.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Any questions about whether Grade 1 winner Silver Wagon would return to his best form after missing the majority of his 3-year-old campaign due to knee injuries were dispelled in the 1:16.23 it took to outgame Value Plus in a strong field of allowance horses on Sunday.
Silver Wagon was making only his second start since finishing third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes here last February. A son of Wagon Limit, Silver Wagon finished a well-beaten fifth behind Medallist when launching his comeback in Calder's Kenny Noe Jr. Handicap on Dec. 18.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - In racing, as in most other businesses, it's always good to have options.
On Friday, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin will have the option of running either Secret Heart, Binya, or both in Gulfstream Park's $46,000 turf feature. The one-mile money allowance race drew a field of nine fillies and mares, and Secret Heart and Binya will run uncoupled in the wagering if they both start.
McLaughlin said early in the week that he will probably run one of the two in the $100,000 Suwannee River Handicap on Saturday, "but I'm not sure who'll go in which race."
Josh Boyd, who fractured his skull and ribs in a spill at Sunland Park on Jan. 30, was listed in guarded but stable condition Wednesday, according to officials with Thomason Hospital in El Paso, Texas.
Boyd, 29, underwent brain surgery as a result of the injuries. He has since been brought out of an induced coma.
Glen Murphy, a fellow rider and a Jockeys' Guild representative at Sunland, visits Boyd often, but received his most recent update on the rider's conditions from friends of Boyd's.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A higher purse in a more prestigious race has led owner George Krikorian to point the multiple stakes winner Hollywood Story to Sunday's $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap instead of Saturday's $200,000 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita.
The decision means that Hollywood Story, 4, will start against mares in the Grade 1 Santa Maria at 1 1/16 miles and not against her own age group in the Grade 2 La Canada at 1 1/8 miles.
ARCADIA, Calif. - For a colt that was winless in eight starts last year, Borrego put together quite a campaign.
He earned $452,190, started in the Kentucky Derby, and ran second in five stakes.
This year, trainer Beau Greely would prefer that Borrego mix in a few wins. His first opportunity comes in a $56,000 allowance race over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Friday. Greely considers the race as a prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 5 or the $500,000 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds on March 12.
It begins each April, at Keeneland and Belmont, rolls like a vast wave through Saratoga, and then back to Belmont again. The tide of Todd Pletcher-trained 2-year-olds flows strong and steady.
The ones in early spring are quick as lightning. They snap out of the gate and dash 4 1/2 furlongs, cutting the corner, springing into the stretch. The distances stretch out to six furlongs come July, but still the sprinters rule; strong, fast, aggressive, the midsummer winners mostly are built for speed.
NEW ORLEANS - Harlington, the undefeated Unbridled colt trained by Todd Pletcher, drew post 10 and was installed as the 3-1 favorite for Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 when a field of 11 was entered on Wednesday. Harlington will be ridden by John Velazquez in the 1 1/16-mile Risen Star, the feature race on Louisiana Derby Preview Day at Fair Grounds.
