Trainer Bernie Flint was released Thursday from the intensive care unit at Baptist East Hospital in Louisville, Ky., where he has been recovering since being hospitalized Sunday with blood clots in his lungs. Flint, 64, is expected to make a full recovery after perhaps another week in the hospital, said his son, trainer Steve Flint.
They live right next door to each other on the Churchill Downs backstretch, but after being sent on a road trip of nearly 100 miles, will get even closer Saturday at Turfway Park.
Both 4-year-old fillies are entered in the $75,000 Weekend Delight Stakes at Turfway, the Florence, Ky., track that began its 22-day fall meet this week. Golden Marlin and Put Me In are the likely favorites among an eight-horse field entered in the Weekend Delight, a six-furlong race that highlights a 10-race card.
MIAMI - Mother Nature may have the ultimate say in the outcome of Saturday's $150,000 Miami Mile Breeders' Cup Handicap and $75,000 Judy's Red Shoes Stakes at Calder. Both races are scheduled to be run on the grass, but with Hurricane Ivan lurking to the south and rain in the forecast, a change in surface could be likely by post time.
The Miami Mile was postponed from Monday due to Hurricane Frances. As a result of all the uncertainty with the weekend forecast, the Mile has drawn a diverse field, consisting of both grass and main-track specialists.
Fans will get a sneak preview of some of the horses who will be running in next month's West Virginia Breeders Classics in a pair of seven-furlong stakes at Charles Town on Saturday night.
The $40,000 Millard Harrell Memorial for 3-year-olds (race 7) and the $40,000 Robert Hilton Memorial for 3-year-olds and up (race 9) serve as preps for major stakes on the 18th annual West Virginia Breeders Classics card on Oct. 9.
The multiple-stakes-winning filly Richetta has never raced on grass or faced males in her career. But she still looks formidable in Saturday's $75,000 Humphrey S. Finney, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for Maryland-bred 3-year-olds at Pimlico.
The five colts and geldings Richetta will face in the Finney are an undistinguished group. None of her rivals has even run in a stakes. The only one to finish first in a non-claiming race is Please Smile, who won a first-level allowance at Penn National.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Vancouver invader Illusive Force, looking to repeat his triumph in the 1 5/16-mile Westerner here Aug. 22, heads a field of 11 in Saturday's 59th running of the $100,000 Speed to Spare.
The past two winners of the 1 3/8-mile Speed to Spare, Bubblegum Kid and Regal Ability, are back in search of a second victory.
Illusive Force has post 7, and Regal Ability leaves from post 3, which should be advantageous for his front-running style. The rail could be wasted on Bubblegum Kid, who is accustomed to running from well back.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Lance Giesbrecht will send over very live horses in both division of the CTHS Sales Stakes on Saturday at Hastings. Both races are at 6 1/2 furlongs and worth $60,000. The Sales Stakes are a precursor to the British Columbia Division of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's yearling and mixed sale, scheduled for Tuesday at the Thunderbird Show Park in Langley.
AUBURN, Wash. - Amanda Lynn will shoot for her third straight win when she takes on older fillies and mares in Saturday's six-furlong feature. The race, which drew a field of seven, is for fillies and mares who have started at the meeting but have not won a race for a $25,000 claiming price or higher.
Horses don't ordinarily run for a $20,000 claiming tag and move up to graded stakes company four months later. But trainer Scott Lake hasn't won with 29 percent of his starters at Delaware Park by misplacing his stock. If Lake thinks enough of Electrical Carlita to enter her in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Endine, a six-furlong stakes for fillies and mares, horseplayers ought to take the horse seriously.
The Endine is one of three stakes on Delaware's 12th annual Owners' Day card, which drew 140 entries for 13 races worth a cumulative $708,000.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Mystery Giver, an Illinois horse of the year, is hobbling around the barn of trainer Chris Block, taking baby steps toward a distant comeback, his career derailed by a serious tendon injury he suffered in the Arlington Million.
Down Block's shed row is another Illinois-bred turf horse, and this one is tearing up the racetrack.