Despite several inches of rain and flooding that led President Bush to declare Franklin County, Ohio, where Beulah Park is located, a natural disaster area, the track's 75-day winter-spring meeting got off to a successful start last weekend.
Beulah handled more than $2 million from all sources on Monday's nine-race program, the first time that mark has been eclipsed at the track since last March.
Leaving on My Mind is the Texas-bred horse of the year for 2004 after leading all statebreds in points on a scale developed by the Texas Thoroughbred Association.
Leaving on My Mind, who is trained by Danny Pish, was also the year's top Texas-bred 2-year-old. He won four stakes for earnings of $299,873. He also finished a troubled third in the $125,000 Texan Juvenile. Leaving on My Mind races for his breeder, George Wolff.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tuesday started like every morning at Santa Anita - dark and wet. It was two days after the cancellation of most of the Sunday card because of unsafe conditions, and the main track remained closed for workouts.
When 17 1/2 inches of rain falls in just two weeks, not much happens in racing. And then at 6 a.m., the rain suddenly stopped. The clouds parted before daybreak, and for the first time in 2005, Southern California horsemen could look into the predawn sky and actually see stars. Finally, the storms had passed.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Kirkendahl is the early favorite for the Grade 2 San Rafael Stakes on Saturday, the meet's first key two-turn stakes for 3-year-olds.
Kirkendahl, 2 for 2 sprinting, enters the race without benefit of a recent workout. His last work was Dec. 26.
"We'll just gallop him up to the race. If he's not super sharp it might work to his advantage," said Ted West, who trains Kirkendahl with his son, Ted H. West.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Vous will attempt to earn herself a spot in the Filly and Mare Turf as the favorite in Thursday's $35,000 second-level allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Vous could become the third member of trainer Tim Hills's barn to earn a spot in one of the eight stakes to be decided on Sunshine Millions Day, Jan. 29, at Gulfstream and Santa Anita. Stablemates Proud Roman (Turf) and Mooji Moo (Filly and Mare Sprint) have all but been confirmed as starters by Hills for the Sunshine Millions races.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - It was mostly business as usual on the Gulfstream Park backstretch on Monday morning. The exception was the south side of Barn 1, where stall 57 sat empty for the first time this winter.
Stall 57 belonged to Hopelessly Devoted, a multiple stakes-winning 4-year-old filly who collapsed and died shortly after the completion of Sunday's Marshua's River Stakes. An autopsy revealed the official cause of death to be cardiac arrest caused by heat exhaustion.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct's inner track hasn't been labeled fast since Jan. 2, and judging from the weather forecast for sleet and rain Tuesday and Wednesday, it seems probable there will be some leftover moisture in the surface on Thursday.
Galloping Grocer, the talented New York-bred 3-year-old gelding, moved closer to his seasonal debut on Tuesday by working three furlongs in 35.43 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
Exercise rider Gary Richards was aboard for the move, which was rated the fourth fastest of 28 works at the distance. The training track was labeled fast. Galloping Grocer is preparing for the $75,000 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 12.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Efrain Miranda had considered Saturday's Golden Gate Derby for Booming Along, but decided to enter him in Thursday's feature, a starter allowance at one mile.
If Miranda were having second thoughts, they likely evaporated Tuesday after trainer Paul Aguirre told Golden Gate officials that Texcess, the winner of the $1 million Delta Jackpot, will run in the $100,000 Golden Gate Derby.
