ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Wednesday was a walk-day for Bedanken, a midweek break before Saturday's whirlwind. Bedanken can afford a day off. She has had two perfect Arlington prep races for the Grade 1 Beverly D., the biggest race of her career, and Bedanken is doing everything right now.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The exercise rider took Mr O'Brien up the horse path Thursday morning for a first look at the Arlington racetrack. The pair went onto the turf course for an easy gallop around the dogs, Mr O'Brien craning his head at the unfamiliar landscape. The rider had no instructions, though Mr O'Brien's engagement in the Arlington Million was two days away. She needed none.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Domestic Dispute is well suited for Sunday's $200,000 Pat O'Brien Breeders' Cup Handicap over seven furlongs at Del Mar. The sprint will be his 14th consecutive stakes appearance, and like so many of his previous starts in top races, Domestic Dispute is cast as an outsider with a chance for an upset.
Domestic Dispute, 4, certainly lived up to that role last February when he weaved his way through traffic to win the Strub Stakes at 14-1 at Santa Anita.
MIAMI - Bettors may wonder which B.B. Best will show up for Saturday's $75,000 Dr. Fager Stakes. But B.B. Best's trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. is confident it will be the one who won his first two career starts by a combined 18 lengths rather than the one who finished a badly beaten fourth as the 1-5 favorite in the Criterium Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The venerable Praise the Prince returned from an absence of 50 weeks on Thursday to win the $79,600 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Stakes for the second time in four years.
The 9-year-old gelding hesitated a bit while going over the final fence, but seized the opportunity when Barzulu, who was right with him a furlong out, bobbled after clearing the final fence. Praise the Prince surged to the front, then held off a belated bid from Najjm, at 60-1 the longest shot in the field.
Voz de Colegiala pulled an upset in Wednesday's $82,850 Osuintas Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar, benefiting from a bad trip by the heavily favored Etoile Montante.
Voz de Colegiala ($23.20) finished a half-length in front of Makeup Artist, who was a half-length in front of Shalini. Etoile Montante, a Group 1 winner in France last year, finished fourth, losing by a length. Etoile Montante was stuck in traffic behind the front-runners turning for home and failed to make up substantial ground when clear in the final furlong.
Lone Star Park near Dallas will return to a single Thoroughbred meet format next year after holding two meets this year to accommodate its hosting of the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships on Oct. 30. Dates for 2005 were awarded during a Texas Racing Commission meeting on Thursday. The calendar mirrors the one used by the state's tracks in 2003.
Lone Star was awarded 70 dates for Thoroughbreds from April 13 to July 17. The track also received a 33-date meet for Quarter Horses from Sept. 30 to Nov. 27.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It would be too much to say that P.G. Johnson saved my life, but not enough to say that he merely enhanced it.
The truth is, during the last year of his own life, he taught me, by example, the importance of living every day as if it was the only one you'd ever have, and of never forgetting to smile as you did.
His attachment to his horses showed me how vital it was to remain passionate about one's work, and his attachment to his wife of 59 years, Mary Kay, made me appreciate, perhaps more than I ever had before, the unsurpassable power of love.
Reprinted from Nov. 3, 2002
NEW YORK - A few hours after Volponi won the Breeders' Cup Classic, I said to my dad at dinner, "I wish I could bottle the feeling" I had when Volponi was alone on the lead as the wire loomed.
Dad, never one to rest on his laurels, said, "Don't worry, there will be more times like that."
Maybe, maybe not. What I do know is that the pride and joy I felt for my 77-year-old father last Saturday at Arlington Park will last a lifetime.
The morning linemaker at Arlington Park apparently has difficulty interpreting European form, as he has affixed overly generous odds to many of the European invaders in Saturday's three International Festival of Racing stakes. If racegoers follow his example, the deep Euro group, with good chances in all three races, could put some surprising numbers on the tote board.
Arlington Million