ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Emerald Earrings ($20.60) tracked front-running Jinny's Gold and blew by her in the stretch to notch her first stakes win in the $143,250 Ontario Colleen Stakes Saturday at Woodbine.
Jinny's Gold set quick fractions in the one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies, as Emerald Earrings bided her time in second under jockey Jake Barton. Emerald Earrings hit the front at the eighth pole and held off 60-1 shot Faswiga to win by a length.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Kelly Breen offers this advice for bettors pondering the $55,000 Candy Eclair Stakes Monday at Monmouth Park.
"Absolute Nectar is the absolute choice," he said.
Absolute Nectar has Breen brimming with confidence as she makes her Monmouth turf debut in the five-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.
Short fields, low handle, and a mid-summer purse decrease have marked the 54-day Ellis Park meet, which concludes Monday. But the meet is set to end on a positive note with the $75,000 Tri-State Handicap attracting 11 turf runners, including Gorylla, winner of Argentina's Group 1 Carlos Pelegrini last year.
Maysville Slew is an 8-year-old gelding who will spot his rivals between 5 and 13 pounds on Monday as the 122-pound highweight in the $125,000 Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Memorial Breeders' Cup at Remington Park.
The weight spread is imposing, but it's also a compliment to Maysville Slew, who is in the midst of a revival at an advanced racing age. He became a millionaire just two races back, when he captured the biggest purse of his career in the $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup.
AUBURN, Wash. - After Flamethrowintexan won the Seattle Slew Handicap on July 31 to establish himself as the favorite for Monday's $100,000 Emerald Breeders' Cup Derby, and then solidified that role with a subsequent allowance victory, trainer Jim Penney went out of his way to credit his son-in-law, Bryson Cooper, for the gelding's acquisition and development.
Cooper, a former jockey whose wife, Kay, is Penney's daughter and assistant, normally keeps busy by galloping and working Penney's horses. This spring, however, Cooper took on an additional project for owner Paul Heist.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - While only five 2-year-olds will contest the $45,000 Minnesota Thoroughbred Association Stallion Auction Laddie Stakes at Canterbury Downs on Monday, the outcome of the 6 1/2-furlong race carries horse of the meet implications. Also on Monday, 2-year-old fillies run in the $45,000 MTA Stallion Auction Lassie Stakes, also at 6 1/2 furlongs.
In order to separate Nitro Chip and Walk This Way in the $50,000 Scott's Scoundrel at Louisiana Downs on Monday, handicappers need to make a judgment call. What is more important, a hot horse, such as Nitro Chip, or a horse with established turf form, such as Walk This Way?
Both are top contenders in the inaugural Scott's Scoundrel, a 1 1/16-mile turf race restricted to 3-year-olds bred in Louisiana.
Favorite Minit, fresh off his first stakes win last weekend at Louisiana Downs, should rule a heavy favorite in the $75,000 Lafayette Stakes. The closing-day feature at Evangeline Downs drew a field of 10 2-year-olds and will be run at six furlongs.
Monday will mark the final Thoroughbred program at the current facility. Construction on a new track in nearby Opelousas is scheduled to be completed in time for the start of the 2005 season, which begins next April.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - The $75,000 Governor's Buckeye Handicap will be run at Thistledown for the first time and has drawn a strong field of 12 Ohio-bred 3-year-olds and up. The other 51 runnings of the 1 1/4-mile race were held at River Downs.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Raving Rocket returns from a three-month layoff and heads a field of nine 2-year-old colts and geldings entered in the $40,000 Prairie Meadows Freshman Stakes.
Raving Rocket scored a gate-to-wire 9 3/4-length win over maiden special weight company in his debut at Arlington on May 31, going 4 1/2 furlongs over a sloppy racing surface.
Trained by Larry Rivelli, Raving Rocket earned a solid 77 Beyer Speed Figure for his debut win but has not raced since.