SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Since Azeri's stirring victory in the Grade 1 Go for Wand Handicap on Aug. 1, trainer D. Wayne Lukas has lost with the 28 runners he saddled at Saratoga.
Lukas, a Hall of Fame trainer who has had seven second-place finishes during this skid, will try to turn things around in some of this meet's biggest races this weekend at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The second half of the Saratoga meeting commences Wednesday with the $100,000 Yaddo Handicap, a New York-bred turf stakes that may lack cachet but certainly not contenders.
Big Tease and Brandala, winners of split divisions of the Mt. Vernon Handicap in June, head the overflow field, but an unpredictable forecast and a consistent group of statebred fillies and mares, including up-and-coming 3-year-olds The Lamp is Lit and Sabellina, make for a good betting affair.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Western Hemisphere, who won the Fleet Treat Stakes for California-bred fillies last month and was stakes-placed on turf at Hollywood Park in June, will attempt to win her first graded stakes in Saturday's $300,000 Del Mar Oaks.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Western Hemisphere will face a strong field that includes Ticker Tape, the upset winner of the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park on July 3; Sweet Win, the winner of the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap here on July 31; and Seducer's Song, the winner of the Lake George Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Trainer Tom Amoss momentarily fretted about the way 2004 began for his perennially powerful stable. He need not have, because by the end of the Fair Grounds meet in March, Amoss again was winning races left and right, and his momentum continues to this very moment.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winners Mr. Epperson and Puffer are among the 13 runners in Wednesday's Woodbine feature, an $80,000 optional claimer, but they aren't necessarily the ones to beat in the seven-furlong turf sprint.
Mr. Epperson, Canada's champion sprinter in 2001, had a productive 2003 campaign for trainer Scott Fairlie, hitting the board in 8 of 11 starts for earnings of $160,079.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Quincy Welch, the Alberta circuit's leading rider the past two years, rewrote the record book with seven victories at Northlands Saturday.
His winners included Vancouver invader Overact, whom he guided to a 2 1/4-length victory over stablemate Socorro County in the $100,000 Sonoma Handicap for 3-year-old fillies.
Welch, a 25-year-old Barbadian, downplayed his sensational afternoon, which eclipsed the previous Northlands record of six wins on a card, shared by Ron Hansen, Perry Winters, and Emil Roy.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Ay Dee Dee holds a special place in the heart of former trainer Brent Sumja. She was his last winner as a trainer.
Ay Dee Dee may get Sumja back in the winner's circle Wednesday at the Bay Meadows Fair, this time as an owner, when she takes on seven 3-year-old fillies in a $20,000 claimer at one mile on the turf.
Ay Dee Dee beat a similar field over the course June 5, before Sumja retired from training to become a stockbroker. Only one of her rivals Wednesday also has a turf victory, and five of her opponents are making their turf debuts.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Grade 3, $200,000 Philip H. Iselin Breeders' Cup Handicap on Saturday at Monmouth Park could be without one of its top contenders after trainer Martin Ciresa said he was unhappy with the 117 pounds assigned to Presidentialaffair.
It takes a lot to keep Presidential-affair away from Monmouth. A 5-year-old gelding, he has already won two stakes here this meet, the Grade 3 Salvator Mile and the Skip Away, and overall he has won 6 of 9 at Monmouth.
