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.
Aggadan has gone off at 9-5 or lower in four of his last six starts, twice as the favorite. A 5-year-old based in New York with trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., Aggadan figures to be a short price again Saturday at Pimlico in the $100,000 Jennings Handicap. The 1 1/8-mile Jennings is restricted to Maryland-breds.
Fastest-qualifier Check the Account will try to show she can be a Grade 1 derby prospect in 2005 when she seeks her fourth straight victory Saturday against a deep field in the Grade 2, $185,165 Sunland Fall Futurity at Sunland Park.
The four fastest qualifiers come into the 400-yard finals with a combined 16 wins, 3 seconds, and 2 thirds from 23 starts. A Fall Futurity score would be the most important career victory for each of the finalists.
Blastin Holland meets the Grade 1-tested Summertime Fly over 550 yards in the $25,000 Paul Ford Handicap at Los Alamitos on Saturday night.
Blastin Holland comes off a win at 550 yards in the Palo Verdes Handicap on Nov. 6, his first win in 10 months. In his previous two starts, however, he showed improving form with two close second-place efforts.
PHOENIX - Turf or dirt, sprint or route, it doesn't matter in the slightest to Muir Beach. A consistent 3-year-old, has won 6 of 18 by virtue of her adaptability, and she again looks like the favorite in the $40,000 Mesa Handicap Saturday at Turf Paradise - if she runs. She also was entered in Friday's Bueno Stakes here. The six-furlong Mesa, for fillies and mares, has lured a field of seven.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Defending riding champion Juan Gutierrez escaped serious injury when his mount in last Saturday's second race fell on the far turn, but he will be sidelined for at least two weeks.
Gutierrez's agent, Keith Drebin, said that the rider was to undergo arthroscopic surgery to correct a pre-existing problem in his knee on Thursday.
"He has been putting off the knee surgery, but it seemed like the right time to do it after the spill," Drebin said. "He was awfully sore, and it would have been hard for him to ride this weekend anyway."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park began its fall meeting in 1981, or, as it has come to be known, 3 BBC (Before Breeders' Cup). The Hollywood Futurity was one of the elite races of the meet, with a purse of $715,100. Two years later, in a move that made Dr. Evil proud, it topped one . . . million . . . dollars.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Los Angeles Rams had one with their defensive line in the 1960's. So too did the Minnesota Vikings in the 1970's. And now trainer Richard Mandella has his own fearsome foursome. Action This Day, Minister Eric, Rock Hard Ten, and Spellbinder - all 3-year-old colts who are under consideration for the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Santa Anita's opening day Dec. 26 - worked seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Wednesday morning.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Paulo Lobo nominated the Brazilian import Loucamania to Monday's Dahlia Handicap, but when he looked at the prospective field earlier this week, he said he probably wouldn't run there and hoped an allowance would go instead.
He got his wish.
