GROVE CITY, Ohio - Defending champion Oh So Easy figures to make it difficult on her five Ohio-bred filly and mare rivals in Sunday's $40,000 Bobbie Bricker Memorial Handicap at Beulah Park.
Oh So Easy, a 4-year-old filly, enters the Bricker off a runner-up effort in the Best of Ohio Distaff at Thistledown three weeks ago. In that 1 1/8-mile event, Oh So Easy stalked the pace before taking the lead in upper stretch but was caught late and beaten by 1 1/4 lengths.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer John Martin says he and owner Robert Bone had some questions about Bone's purchase of True Dancer earlier this year.
Those questions have been erased, and True Dancer could wind up the second choice behind graded stakes winner Ninebanks in Sunday's $55,000-added Pacifica Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Bay Meadows.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - True Tails drew out to a seven and a quarter length win in the $50,000 Lone Star Park Juvenile Fillies on Thursday. The six-furlong race was added to the stakes schedule as part of Lone Star's build-up to the Breeders' Cup on Saturday.
True Tails ($5.20) went to the front at the start of the Lone Star Juvenile Fillies, running the opening quarter in 21.71 seconds. She went on to cover a half-mile in 44.23 seconds, then crossed the wire in 1:09.74. Jamie Theriot rode True Tails for trainer Cole Norman.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jerry Bailey won the International Jockey Championship in a tiebreaker with Kieren Fallon before a crowd of 15,128 at Lone Star Park on Thursday. As part of a special wager tied to the three-race competition, Bailey paid $14.40 to win, $13.80 to place, and $7.40 to show. Frankie Dettori was third.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Paddy's Daisy, favored at 1-2 odds in Thursday's $112,600 Jessamine County Stakes at Keeneland, made her backers sweat, but ultimately prevailed by a half-length over 42-1 shot Berbatim.
Confidently ridden by John Velazquez, the leading money-earning jockey in North America, Paddy's Daisy stalked the pace in fourth for much of the race, while always under a firm hold. She advanced wide on the second turn to tackle the leaders, and gradually inched past the pacesetting Berbatim through the stretch.
The past two years, ran in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic, finishing fourth in 2002 and seventh last year. This year, he stays in New York for Saturday's $150,000 Knickerbocker Handicap at Aqueduct.
The Grade 2 Knickerbocker and the Grade 2 First Flight Handicap are part of a five-race live card that begins at 11 a.m. Eastern, with simulcasts of the Breeders' Cup races from Lone Star Park to follow.
Passing Shot is the most accomplished runner in the $150,000 First Flight at Aqueduct, but she must overcome a four-month layoff and the seven-furlong distance of the race is probably too short for her.
Trained by Allen Jerkens, , a Grade 1 winner, has won 3 of 5 starts at Aqueduct, including the Grade 3 Bed o'Roses in April. Jerkens has won the First Flight two out of the last three years.
What's Up Lonely, winner of the Maryland Million Nursery three weeks ago, goes for his third consecutive victory in the $75,000 Rollicking Stakes, a six-furlong race for Maryland-bred 2-year-olds on Saturday at Pimlico.
In order to do that, however, What's Up Lonely will probably have to run faster than he ever has before.
That's because trainer John Pregman is bringing Maddy's Lion to Maryland.
A pair of $50,000 sprints restricted to 2-year-old Virginia-bred or Virginia-sired horses will close out the 2004 stakes schedule at Delaware Park.
The Hildene for fillies and the T. Tyson Gilpin for colts and geldings, both contested at six furlongs, are races 5 and 6 on an abbreviated card that begins at 10:45 a.m.
Partners Due, second after blowing a huge lead in the Maryland Million Lassie last time out, and Joyous Song, the field's lone two-time winner and already stakes placed in two events, are the prime contenders in the Hildene.
Horseplayers looking for some exercise might want to try the "Meadowlands Marathon" on Saturday.
The action starts at 10 a.m., when gates open for simulcast wagering on the Breeders' Cup races from Lone Star, as well as 22 other Thoroughbred and harness tracks. At 7:30 p.m., a full card of live racing gets under way, highlighted by a trio of stakes and the annual Grey Ghost Starter Handicap.
The Witches' Brew and the Storm Cat Stakes headline the live card, along with the Accordant Handicap, which is restricted to New Jersey-breds. Each race carries a purse of $60,000.
