ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Bill Spawr looked out the window of his stable office on a rainy Wednesday morning and cursed his luck.
Hoping to start Market Garden on turf in Friday's $100,000 Monrovia Handicap, Spawr knew that persistent rain was hampering the chances of the race to stay on Santa Anita's hillside turf course.
"Right this second, there is no chance," he said. "I can't see the other barn across the way."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Two days of near-constant rain wreaked havoc with training schedules at Santa Anita on Tuesday and Wednesday and led to the cancellation of turf racing on Wednesday and Thursday.
The storyline could be the same through the weekend. With rain forecast for Friday and Sunday, there is concern that the turf course may not be used this week, or will be used sparingly.
Three of four stakes this week are on turf - Friday's Monrovia Handicap on the hillside turf course, and Saturday's Hill Rise Stakes and San Gabriel Handicap.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When Lord Langfuhr ended his 3-year-old campaign with a 10 1/2-length maiden score over the inner track last December, it was a harbinger of things to come.
gets a chance to end a very productive 4-year-old season with his first stakes win on Friday when he faces nine fellow New York-breds in the $75,000 Alex M. Robb Handicap at Aqueduct.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Tamburello was shipped from Chile to North America earlier this year in order to be sold. When several proposed sales fell through, New York-based trainer Michael Miceli assumed ownership of the 5-year-old gelding.
There may be renewed interest in Tamburello following the Chilean-bred's decisive 3 3/4-length victory in Wednesday's $82,700 at Aqueduct. Despite a nine-day holiday break and a pleasant afternoon weather-wise, a crowd of only 2,779 attended the races.
MIAMI - Alix M has quickly risen to the top of the local filly and mare handicap division and as a result was assigned high weight of 120 pounds for Friday's $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap. Northern invaders Ebony Breeze and Pop Princess may prove the ones to beat, however, in the seven-furlong Chaposa Springs, which track management moved forward one day on the calendar so it would be run during 2004 and maintain its Grade 3 status.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park will implement pre-race testing for sodium bicarbonate levels during the upcoming 2005 meeting. The testing is meant to detect the practice of milkshaking, which is the administration of sodium bicarbonate, typically through a tube, directly into a horse's stomach. A milkshake is generally considered a performance enhancer.
The testing will be funded by Gulfstream Park and the Florida division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said FHBPA president Linda Mills.
MIAMI - Trainers who came to south Florida this winter with a barn full of grass horses may be breathing just a little bit easier after Gulfstream Park's new turf course passed its first real test with flying colors Wednesday morning.
Trainer Layne Giliforte is serious about expanding his stable's reach. He traveled 1,200 miles from his Fort Erie base in Canada this fall to set up a 12-horse division at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. He also has a string of 18 horses at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida and next month will set up a two-horse division at Oaklawn Park to test the waters in Hot Springs, Ark.
None of this will impact operations in Canada. Giliforte, a six-time title winner at Fort Erie, said he even has plans to move a greater number of horses into Woodbine in Toronto when that meet opens in May.
ALBANY, Calif. - Friday's Golden Gate Fields feature looks like a replay of a race held Dec. 8.
Four of the six fillies entered in the $50,000 optional claimer at six furlongs met Dec. 8.
Luisathebeachhouse ran second behind Yerevan Star that day and finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Beezer, whom she had dead-heated with for the win in her previous start. Beezer was a nose in front of Princess Lianna on Dec. 8, with My Charmian three lengths behind in fifth.
Friday will be the third start off a layoff for both Luisathebeachhouse and Princess Lianna.
