ALBANY, Calif. - Apprentice jockey Kate Repp was taken to Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley with a concussion and possible rib injuries after Wild Irish Dreams clipped heels with Pia's Courage inside the 16th pole in Wednesday's fifth race at Golden Gate Fields.
As Wild Irish Dream tried to get up from the spill, she was broadsided by Sexy Splasher causing jockey Pedro Mercado to fall. Mercado rolled under the inside safety rail and walked off the track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Leroidesanimaux has won graded stakes on racing's biggest days this year - just in the wrong town.
When the nation's focus was on the Kentucky Derby on May 1, Leroidesanimaux won the Grade 3 Inglewood Handicap at Hollywood Park. On Oct. 30, Breeders' Cup Day, Leroidesanimaux was the star at Santa Anita, winning the Grade 3 Morvich Handicap.
Saturday at Hollywood Park, on a day when California will be firmly in the national spotlight, Leroidesanimaux makes his first start in an American Grade 1 in the $400,000 Citation Handicap.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The death of trainer Doug Peterson on Sunday was caused by an accidental drug overdose, according to an investigator with the Los Angles Police Department.
Peterson was found dead in his room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Sunday evening. He had last been seen at Hollywood Park on Saturday afternoon, when he started El Prado in Action, who finished sixth in the fifth race.
According to Mike DiPasquale of the LAPD's Pacific Division, the drugs that caused Peterson's death will not be known until toxicology tests are completed.
The Keeneland Association's sales pavilion, built in 1969, will undergo renovation and expansion, the auction house announced Wednesday.
The work, which has already begun, should be complete in August 2005. The construction will be done in three phases to accommodate the 2005 auctions.
MIAMI - After finishing a fast-closing second behind the speedy B.B. Best in the In Reality Stakes here last month, and with B.B. Best headed to Kentucky this weekend for the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, Anthony J. will be one of the favorites if he starts in the What a Pleasure Stakes at Calder on Dec. 4.
But trainer Bill Perry is thinking about greener pastures, as in dollar bills, for his stretch-running 2-year-old, who is also being considered for the $1 million Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs. The Delta Jackpot is also run on Dec. 4.
Ocean Runaway, winner of the Golden State Million, will be after a spot in his second straight $1 million futurity when he starts in the eighth of 12 trials to the Grade 1, $1,508,650 Los Alamitos Million on Friday night at Los Alamitos. The horses with the 10 fastest times from the 98 juveniles entered in the 400-yard trials will qualify for the Dec. 10 finals.
Macs Gonzo is well placed to gain his first stakes victory in the Grade 3, $87,100 AQRA Turf Paradise Futurity on Sunday.
Macs Gonzo won his trial by two lengths with the second-fastest qualifying time of 20.25 seconds for the 400 yards. He was second by a nose in the Grade 3 Prescott Valley Futurity and third in the Pomona Juvenile Championship.
Fastest-qualifier honors went to Quick Dokie, a trial winner in 20.20 seconds.
The Road Boss will try to repeat his winning trial performance when he starts in the Grade 2, $90,833 Sunland Fall Derby at Sunland Park on Sunday.
The Road Boss won his trial with the fastest qualifying time, 19.997 seconds for 400 yards, over the horses with the next three fastest qualifying times. He won two allowance races at Ruidoso Downs this summer, his two other victories from six 2004 starts.
It's not often that a $1,700 purchase wins a berth into a $500,000 race, but that's what Sandias Peppermint accomplished Sunday when he won the $130,000 Red Hedeman Mile at Sunland Park. With the win, he earned a berth into the WinStar Derby on April 2.
Rocky Gulch, the winner of last year's Red Hedeman, went on to finish third in the WinStar.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ever since 1990 Canadian Triple Crown winner Izvestia disappointed at 5-1 in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Classic, many American handicappers have been skeptical of the merits of Canadian runners when they compete in stakes south of the border, and justifiably so.
This month alone, two Woodbine shippers ran in grass stakes at Churchill Downs, and both came up flat while being well backed in the wagering in their first start away from Woodbine.
