Last Saturday's 10th edition of the Indiana Derby drew 6,839 fans to Hoosier Park, the fourth-highest crowd for a derby and eighth overall for Thoroughbred or Standardbred attendance in the track's 11-year history.
Ontrack wagering on the live card was $286,918, compared with $264,031 a year ago. Overall handle was off a bit. The combined total of $2,032,911 on this year's card fell short of last year's $2,162,212.
MIAMI - Charlene Stevic does not have a trainer's license. But on Monday she completed a feat any veteran horseman would be proud of when she sent out 2-year-old colt Red Treasure to win his career debut under a $25,000 claiming tag in the fourth race at Calder.
Stevic purchased Red Treasure, a son of Northern Afleet, last March, not at a major horse sale but at a local auction in Ocala. Stevic got Red Treasure legged up over the seven-sixteenth-mile training track on her farm but had to bring him to the Starting Gate Training Center for any serious workouts.
Trainer Paul Jones is in the enviable position of having three dangerous juveniles - Feel the Roar, Lethal Bay, and Willie Getto Know Me - among the eight entrants in the $27,400 Autumn Handicap on Friday night at Los Alamitos.
Feel the Roar comes off a third-place finish in the California Juvenile Challenge after being brushed at the start. He came into the Challenge off three straight daylight victories.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Patrick Biancone has customized what he calls "the good horse circuit." Little wonder, then, that when Keeneland opens its fall meet this weekend with a flurry of spectacular stakes action, Biancone will be an integral part of the mix, looking to make his mark before moving on to the next town.
That next town - for Biancone and many of the other top trainers in American racing - happens to be Grand Prairie, Texas, where the 21st Breeders' Cup championships will be held Oct. 30.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The second half of the first daily double is merely a prelude to the weekday pick six in Southern California. So when only five horses entered the richest race on the Thursday card at Santa Anita, the racing office buried the two-other-than allowance as the second race on the card.
Might as well. Five-horse fields rarely produce the type of surprise winners that cause large pick-six payoffs or carryovers, and most bettors probably agree that either should win race 2 on Thursday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Nick Hines is rapidly discovering the challenge of working with owner Jim McIngvale. After During scratched from the Grade 2 Goodwood Handicap on Saturday, the ambitious plan was to train him up to the Breeders' Cup Classic. Then McIngvale had another idea - why not try him in a sprint?
"He told me [Monday] he had a dream that this horse would win the Ancient Title," Hines said. "It's his decision. Do I think [During] is a six-furlong horse? No. If the horse wins, I give him the majority of the credit."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hong Kong Dancer, one of the more talented 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine, faces older rivals while returning from a layoff in Thursday's headliner, a $62,500 optional claimer.
Hong Kong Dancer captured her first two starts by a combined total of nearly 15 lengths in the spring. She won her May 1 debut with authority, running six furlongs in a quick 1:09.60 and earning a Beyer Figure of 85 in a $50,000 optional maiden race.
