OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Norberto Arroyo won the Garland of Roses aboard Travelator in December and the Interborough Handicap aboard Bank Audit in January. But when it came time to choose which one he would ride in Saturday's $75,000 Correction Handicap at Aqueduct, it wasn't that difficult a decision.
"Travelator is a nice filly, but I won three in a row with Bank Audit," he said. "She's on top of her game. I can't let her go. I got to ride her."
starts from post 4 under top weight of 120 pounds.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rockport Harbor, an undefeated colt and a top candidate for the Kentucky Derby, worked an easy five furlongs in 1:02.24 on Thursday morning at Oaklawn Park.
Rockport Harbor worked after the renovation break, and was accompanied onto the track by a pony ridden by his trainer, John Servis. Rockport Harbor worked alone under Bobby Velez, his regular exercise rider and an assistant to Servis.
Rockport Harbor's time was the sixth fastest of 53 works at the distance. The track was fast, but times were average with the bullet for five furlongs a mild 1:01.40.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Clean trip, please. That's what the connections of Wildcat Shoes want Saturday, when the colt takes on a talented group in the $50,000 King Cotton, including Mountain General, trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Roman Chapa, the team that has swept the first three stakes of the meet at Oaklawn.
was third in a six-furlong allowance at Fair Grounds in his last start Dec. 19, when he dueled through fractions of 21.60 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.80 seconds for the half-mile. But the pace is not the entire story behind his demanding race.
Take a little chestnut gelding by a $1,500 stud and out of a modest mare, and make a half-million dollars with him. That is the story of Witt Ante, and a parable for the allure of Louisiana-bred racing, where racetrack slot machines have fueled an ascendant breeding industry, offering riches to horses foaled in the Pelican State.
NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Tom Amoss intends to run his promising 3-year-old colt Rush Bay, coming off a winter freshening, in the Risen Star Stakes next Saturday. In the final start of his 2-year-old campaign, Rush Bay finished second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs.
The Risen Star looks like a tough spot for a seasonal debut, but if you're looking down the road toward the spring classics, it may well be the perfect place to begin a campaign.
NEW ORLEANS - Mutiple stakes winner Forest Music will make her first start as a 4-year-old Saturday in the $60,000 Pan Zareta Handicap at six furlongs at Fair Grounds.
A gray daughter of Unbridled's Song, Forest Music ran against some of the top 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park and Saratoga last year. She hasn't raced since Dec. 11 at Aqueduct.
Forest Music turned in her biggest performance while winning the Grade 3 Miss Preakness off a five-month layoff, so trainer Gamaliel Vazquez knows she can fire fresh.
Saturday morning in New Orleans, Crimson Stag will be loaded onto a horse trailer at Fair Grounds and travel west to Delta Downs in Vinton, La., where he will race that evening on Louisiana Premier Night in the $125,000 Prince. If the van driver can find his way to Delta, and Crimson Stag manages not to fall down, victory is nearly assured.
Goosey Moose has a lot of angles in his favor Saturday night in the $40,000 Jersey Village Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. He will be moving back to turf, a surface over which he is 2 for 2, and he will be facing Texas-breds following a fifth-place finish last out in open company in the $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup.
Frog Day is somewhat akin to Groundhog Day. It serves to remind Kentucky horseplayers that, yes, it's still early February and still wintertime at Turfway Park - but it won't be that much longer until spring arrives, and with it the better races for 3-year-olds.
