ELMONT, N.Y. - The last time trainer Bruce Levine saddled a horse for Kentucky-based trainer Bernie Flint, Im a Dixie Girl won the Colleen Stakes by more than eight lengths at Monmouth in August.
will be saddled again by Levine in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000-added Astarita Stakes at Belmont Park, and is the horse to beat in the 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies.
Churchill Downs Inc. formally closed a deal Friday to acquire Fair Grounds Race Course for $47 million, and has already begun shaping the storied New Orleans racetrack in its own image.
The purchase brings to an end the ownership era of the Krantz family of New Orleans. Marie Krantz, her son Bryan, and Bryan's wife, Vickie, were the prime forces running the racetrack for the last 14 seasons.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A fever kept Flamenco out of training for several days and caused trainer Todd Pletcher to scrap his plans of running in last weekend's Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and wait for Sunday's $75,000-added Cowdin Stakes at Belmont Park.
Flamenco will be the favorite among six 2-year-old males in the 6 1/2- furlong Cowdin.
Down the road, Pletcher wants to test Flamenco, who is Grade 1-placed, in longer races.
"We weren't quite on cue to try and stretch him out," Pletcher said. "We'll go to the Cowdin and hope he runs well in there."
Dale Baird is the ultimate big fish in a small pond. For more than 20 years, Baird and his large string of blue-collar horses have dominated racing at Mountaineer Race Track in West Virginia.
Operating far from the limelight, Baird has won more races than anyone in history. Sometime soon, he will record his 9,000th career victory, a record that may never be broken. To put his achievement into perspective, Baird, who at 69 is in his 44th year as a trainer, is more than 2,500 wins ahead of the second-winningest trainer, Jack Van Berg.
MIAMI - Silver Wagon, sidelined by a knee injury this winter while preparing for the Grade 1 Florida Derby, returned to trainer Ralph Ziadie's barn at Calder on Friday.
Silver Wagon was considered among the top south Florida-based 3-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail earlier this year following a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes and a third behind Read the Footnotes and Second of June in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. The Fountain of Youth also marked the final start thus far this season for Second of June, who came out of the race with a fractured leg.
With just a few notable changes, Churchill Downs on Friday released the stakes schedule for the fall meet that begins Oct. 31, and, as usual, the best races will come on the final weekend of the meet.
The most notable addition to the schedule is the $150,000 Commonwealth Turf, a grass race for 3-year-olds that will be run Nov. 14. Meanwhile, the best of the standard fare includes the $500,000 Clark Handicap on Nov. 26, the $300,000 Falls City Handicap on Nov. 25, and the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on closing day, Nov. 27.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne homebodies will have at least one local rooting interest at the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships on Oct. 30 at Lone Star, since Bare Necessities will ship from Chicago for the $2 million Distaff.
Bare Necessities might well wind up as the longest price in the Distaff field, but her owner, George Middleton, is taking a "you gotta be in it to win it" approach.
"Mr. Middleton wants to go, and he's the one calling the shots," said trainer Frank Kirby. "She's training as well as she ever has. I've been pushing on her in her works."
Remember the name High Limit. Based on his career debut Oct. 4 at Delaware Park, High Limit, a 2-year-old son of Maria's Mon, could turn out to be something special.
Despite breaking from the rail, which can be intimidating for a young horse, High Limit had no problems demolishing a field of maiden special weight sprinters by 10 3/4 lengths, running six furlongs in 1:10.03. That translated into a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
The pick four at Pimlico has been a bonanza for Maryland horseplayers recently.
Four longshot winners last Sunday led to a $21,192 payoff, the largest of the fall meet.
Usually, Pimlico has just one pick four daily, on races 4 through 7, but on Maryland Million Day there were two pick fours, and both produced lucrative rewards for lucky bettors.
Dr Detroit's ($48.40) upset victory in the Turf keyed the early payout of $17,769.80, and Merryland Missy's ($33.60) score in the Distaff Sprint fueled a payout of $1,828.20 in the late pick four.
A perceived conformational flaw led to a bargain price for Where's Bailey, who can win her first stakes race Sunday in the $50,000 Lady Luck for 2-year-old fillies on turf at Louisiana Downs.
Where's Bailey was a $4,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland last September, and she has since won both of her career starts for her co-owner and trainer, Keith Desormeaux.
"She is what I like to describe as high in the withers, and that makes her have the perception of being slightly swayback," said Desormeaux. "If you look through that, she's absolutely gorgeous."
