OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Most horses are no longer still running at age 8, much less running at their best. Black Silk is not like most horses.
Black Silk had a record of 3 for 40 when the year began. Sunday, he could be among the top three betting choices when he starts in the Grade 3, $100,000 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct, the last graded stakes to be run in New York this year.
PORTLAND, Ore. - A field of 10 2-year-old Quarter Horses, including a pair of stable couplings, will vie for a purse of $59,000 in Saturday's renewal of the Far West Futurity Finals at 400 yards.
Jazzn Boots and One Fast Trick, who won the two fastest trials run here on Dec. 4, will likely compete for favoritism.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Just when Roar Emotion has learned to rate, it may be time to revert to her front-running ways again in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.
, a multiple graded stakes winner, looms the main speed in the eight-horse field of fillies and mares assembled for the 134th running of the Ladies. The question is whether she can carry that speed 1 1/4 miles.
NEW ORLEANS - Sister Swank may be the one in a closely-matched field of 3-year-old fillies in the $60,000 Pago Hop Stakes at a mile on the grass, the feature race Saturday at Fair Grounds. The 19th running of the Pago Hop has attracted several stakes-placed contestants, with Sister Swank and Galloping Gal both weighted at 123 pounds, including a two-pound penalty for having won $50,000 on the turf in 2004.
NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Bubba Cascio is a new face on the Fair Grounds backstretch this year, but he has quickly become a favorite of bettors. The red-hot Cascio has sent out 13 runners at the meet and registered 5 victories, 3 seconds, and a pair of thirds.
CHICAGO - Humor at Last survived round one of Saturday's $100,000-added Jim Edgar Futurity - the post-position draw.
With 14 2-year-olds packed into the 1 1/16-mile Edgar, and with a short run into Hawthorne Race Course's clubhouse turn, an extreme outside draw virtually eliminates a horse. , who will be favored after easily winning the first two starts of his career, should be fine, having secured post 4. But one of his main rivals, Win Me Over, got the short straw, post 14, with fringe contender Fielding only slightly better off in the 13th stall.
ALBANY, Calif. - While nationwide attention on 2-year-olds is focused on the Hollywood Futurity, Golden Gate Fields on Saturday has a stakes of its own for early Derby hopefuls, the $50,000-added Gold Rush Stakes at one mile.
Heading the field is , who won his debut by 11 lengths, then was a troubled third in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue, beaten only two lengths by probable Futurity favorite Declan's Moon.
"The Futurity was coming up such a tough race, we wanted to try to find an easy race for him to build his confidence," said Kristin Mulhall, Seize the Day's trainer.
Bernie Flint was looking to have a huge weekend. He was holding out hope that Sweet Catomine would, by some chance, show up Sunday in the Grade 1 Starlet at Hollywood Park, where Flint gladly would have shipped his star 2-year-old filly, Runway Model, in a last-gasp attempt to snatch away a divisional Eclipse Award.
"That was the only way we could get the Eclipse, but obviously that didn't happen," said Flint.
Silver Crown is fresh and fast, drew the rail, and recently worked a near-bullet. She is a strong threat to wire the field Saturday night in the $40,000 Cy-Fair Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.
The six-furlong race is for 3-year-old fillies, and it drew a full field of 12, including the coupled entry of Sago and Bluegrass Sara. The Cy-Fair program will be the final live card at Sam Houston until Jan. 7.
