SAN MATEO, Calif. - Impressive debut winners are frequently overbet in their second starts.
Bettors at Bay Meadows on Friday will have to weigh the merits of recent debut winners Marsh Creek and High Standards carefully in the six-furlong allowance feature for 3-year-olds that headlines the day's card.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Carroll County, who is undefeated in two career starts, will face the toughest challenge of his young career on Friday when he takes on 10 rivals in a two-other-than allowance sprint at Oaklawn Park.
The six-furlong race, for 4-year-olds and up, also includes Wild Wild West, a statebred stakes winner at Prairie Meadows, and Call Roy, a 13 1/2-length allowance winner against Indiana-breds who invades from Kentucky.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Fonner Park opens up Nebraska's live racing season on Friday with a nine-race card that starts out the 38-day season on the five-eighth-mile oval.
With construction of the Heartland Events Center under way on track property, the Fonner will offer free general admission and parking for this year's meet. The 6,000-seat events center is slated for completion in the summer of 2006. It will be connected to the west side of the existing Fonner facility and will occupy nearly as much space as the current track does.
Special Task Force will try to take another step toward a $100,000 payday in one of Friday's two trials to the West Texas Maturity at 400 yards here Friday. Special Task Force leads the second trial, race 5, as he attempts to qualify for the 400-yard finale, to be held Feb. 26.
Prairie Meadows director of racing Derron Heldt and racing secretary Dan Doocy are in the process of criss-crossing the nation while trying to recruit horseman for the 47-day Thoroughbred meeting that begins April 21 and runs through July 4.
Visits have already been made to Tampa Bay Downs, Sam Houston, Mountaineer, Turfway, and Sunland Park. Heldt said he has trips planned to Oaklawn Park, Turf Paradise, and Hawthorne, as well as a return visit to Sunland.
How much can a new trainer hope to improve a 7-year-old gelding? Scott Lake was willing to spend $10,000 to find out.
Lake claimed Sacsahuaman, a 2 1/2-length winner of a mile and 70-yard route last Sunday at Philadelphia Park. It was Sacsahuaman's third win in a row and the third consecutive time he has been claimed since Jan. 11, when he was taken for $4,000.
Any time a claiming horse plunges in class after a long layoff, it's reason enough to raise a red flag. But trainer Mike Salvaggio had his 6-year-old mare Muttface Alison perfectly spotted last Friday night at Penn National.
Winless in eight starts last year but 6 for 12 lifetime at Penn National, Muttface Alison ($5.20) dropped from a $20,000 optional claiming race to $7,500 while making her first start since July. Muttface Alison won by two lengths and there were no takers.
It didn't take Dana Whitney long to regain his groove. Riding at Mountaineer Race Track for the first time since Dec. 13, Whitney was aboard three winners during Monday night's nine-race card.
In January, Whitney made a brief attempt to break into the big time at Santa Anita, but he came back to West Virginia after going 1 for 22 in Southern California.
Jayhawk Janet, one of the sharpest fillies at Charles Town last fall, when she won three races in a row at seven furlongs, was claimed by trainer Jeff Allen for $25,000 out of last Friday's sixth race.
Making her first start since November, Jayhawk Janet won the claiming race with a 79 Beyer Speed Figure. She is now 4 for 8 at Charles Town.
Average daily handle rose over 40 percent from last year during the first month of the Beulah Park winter-spring meeting.
Through Tuesday, Beulah averaged $1,415,691 for the 17 full programs run this year. Beulah also ran 17 full programs through Feb. 8 last year and averaged $1,006,730 per day. Not counted in the figures were two programs that were canceled this year after the second race because of adverse track conditions and three cards that were cut short last year.