AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Red Smith has confirmed that Northlands Park star Deputy Country will run in Sunday's 69th renewal of the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.
"I'm making the arrangements and filling out the health papers right now," said Smith on Wednesday morning. "I entered him at Hastings Park on Saturday just in case there is a hang-up getting across the border, but I don't have any reason to believe there will be a problem."
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Nate Ruffolo and trainer Michele Boyce took a chance on a horse nobody wanted, and they're finally being rewarded. A Salt Lake yearling who had what Boyce calls "a funky knee" commanded just $8,000 at the 2001 Keeneland September sales, and now that sum looks like a bargain.
Breeders' Cup will add a second pick four to its wagering menu for this year's event at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30, Breeders' Cup officials said Wednesday.
The pick four will link the first Breeders' Cup race, the Distaff, with the Juvenile Fillies, Mile, and Sprint. Since 2000, Breeders' Cup had offered only one pick four, ending with the Classic.
"The pick four handle has been really good in the past, and we felt we should go ahead and get all eight races covered," said Ken Kirchner, a Breeders' Cup senior vice president.
Dennis Dowd, the vice president for account and offtrack wagering for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, told the New Jersey Racing Commission on Wednesday that statewide computer online wagering should be in place by Oct. 15.
Bettors will be able to wager via the Internet and watch the races on streaming video, and there is a strong possibility that voice-activated telephone wagering will also be launched at the same time.
Phone bets utilizing live operators will start at a later date, following construction of a call-center at The Meadowlands.
AUBURN, Wash. - Americas Pride drops to the $8,000 claiming level on Friday, when she will attempt to regain her winning stride against eight other 3-year-old fillies in the one-mile feature at Emerald Downs.
Americas Pride, an Oregon-bred daughter of Baquero from the barn of trainer Bill Thompson, won four races last year as a juvenile, including the Knights Choice Stakes at this track and the Janet Wineberg Memorial at Portland Meadows. She is winless in six outings as a 3-year-old, but she has been meeting considerably tougher competition than she will face on Friday.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Greg Gilchrist scratched Tonsilitis on Aug. 5, when she appeared the likeliest winner in a $32,000 starter allowance.
Her stablemate, Factual Lady, won that race, and Gilchrist will run Tonsilitis in Friday's Bay Meadows Fair feature. Gilchrist hopes she'll match her stablemate's effort against Beezer and Class Edition, the fillies who ran second and third to Factual Lady at Santa Rosa.
Five 3-year-old fillies meet in a $32,000 starter allowance at six furlongs.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Mac Robertson is listed as the assistant trainer to his father, Hugh, in the Canterbury Park program, but is clearly the one in charge of the stable's Canterbury shed row. Mac Robertson has guided the locally based Kissoon Thoroughbreds through what might prove its most productive season ever and is poised to add to the stable's accomplishments in Sunday's Festival of Champions Day, which comprises seven stakes offering combined purses in excess of $300,000.
COLLINSVILLE, IL - It can be bittersweet watching one of your favorite horses age. Top Fairmount trainer Ralph Martinez and his exclusive employer, Lou O'Brien, are currently grappling with such emotions as they prepare to retire their barn's classy 9-year-old sprinter Glit after the current Fairmount meet ends on Sept. 18.
"He's getting old," says Martinez of Glit. "He's got to run in the bottom claiming races now. He's getting beat by some cheap horses, and that ain't him. We don't want to embarrass him or anything. He's been good to us, so we'll be good to him."
COLUMBUS, Neb. - Whats Gonna collected his third straight win of the Columbus meet last Sunday with a three-length score over $2,500 starter allowance company. The win was also his fifth straight this year, for a mark of 5-1-0 from seven starts. Trained by David Anderson, Whats Gonna is the only horse to win three races at this meet and joins J. R. Honor and I Just Met a Girl as the state's winningest horses this year. A Nebraska-bred son of Fairway Topper, Whats Gonna pushed his lifetime mark to 19-11-2 from 52 starts and earnings of $99,840.
With three weeks remaining in the Thoroughbred meeting at Evangeline Downs, thoughts are beginning to turn to Quarter Horses. The transition began this week as racing secretary Warren Groce added two races for Quarter Horses each evening to the normal program of 10 Thoroughbred events.