If it's not already, it would make a great Las Vegas bet: When will Steve Asmussen break Jack Van Berg's record of 496 trainer wins in a calendar year? Predicting the particular race is tough, but it would be movie-like if Asmussen was in a position to break the record in the $100,000 Star of Texas on Saturday night at Sam Houston Race Park.
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DRF Past Performances
Free Bonus gets one more chance to strut her stuff on Saturday, when she heads a full field of 12 in the fillies division of the $40,000 Indiana Stallion Stakes at six furlongs.
Undefeated in her three career starts, Free Bonus is also a two-time stakes winner at the meet. Trained by David Norris, Free Bonus won her maiden at first asking here on Sept. 10. She returned Oct. 1 and dominated statebred rivals, winning by the City of Anderson Stakes by 11 1/4 lengths.
Coronado Rose is one of 13 horses trainer Steve Asmussen will be starting in stakes in Texas and Louisiana on Saturday night. She will be shooting for her third straight win, taking on probable favorite True Tails in the $40,000 Delta Belle for 2-year-old fillies at Delta Downs.
Asmussen's other stakes starters will be at Sam Houston Race Park, where he has 12 horses in eight of the nine stakes making up Texas Champions Day. Asmussen is close to breaking Jack Van Berg's record of 496 wins by a trainer in a calendar year. Asmussen had won 486 races this year through Wednesday.
Mr. Jester will add blinkers when he returns to stakes competition Sunday in the $150,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park. He is one of seven probables for the 1 1/8-mile race, led by Quintons Gold Rush and Cryptograph.
Mr. Jester won three stakes at 2, including the $1 million Delta Jackpot. He has been racing in the allowance ranks of late, and defeated older horses on Oct. 8. In his most recent start, he was second in an allowance Oct. 24.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - With the end of November approaching, it is no surprise that trainer Josie Carroll is looking forward to her annual stint at Fair Grounds.
Carroll has been a going concern at Fair Grounds since setting up shop there for the first time in 1997 and has been organizing her troops for this year's meeting, which opens Thursday.
"It's been a really good meet for me," said Carroll, who has seen off her first shipment of six horses and has another six ready to follow.
Carroll says racing at Fair Grounds "fits well into the program."
ALBANY, Calif. - The $50,000-added Golden Bear Stakes, scheduled as the Saturday feature at Golden Gate Fields, was canceled when only three 2-year-old colts were entered.
Racing secretary Sean Greely is not optimistic about rescheduling the race.
All three scheduled stakes at the meet have failed to fill. The Star Ball, scheduled for opening day, was brought back and run last Sunday.
Last year's Pennsylvania Nursery served as the coming out party for Smarty Jones. His 15-length victory and 105 Beyer Speed Figure quickly stamped Smarty Jones as a 2-year-old with exceptional potential.
There are no horses in Saturday's $50,000 Pennsylvania Nursery at Philadelphia Park capable of running anywhere near as fast as Smarty Jones did last November. But United, a New York-based colt in the race, could turn out to be quite a nice stakes horse.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Senor Ladd can stake a claim as the best horse based in New England in Saturday's $40,000 John Kirby Stakes for 3-year-old Massachusetts-breds.
Like the Smarty Jones vs. Ghostzapper debate, the race for New England horse of the year is between a 3-year-old and an older horse who have never met on the track.
Trainer Bobby Frankel believes Midas Eyes lost the Breeders' Cup Sprint before the horses ever hit the track at Lone Star Park.
"He bit his tongue real hard in the paddock, and he had blood pouring out of his mouth," said Frankel, whose horse finished 10th behind Speightstown in the Sprint. "I'm hoping that's what stopped him. That and being so wide."