ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It was late winter turning to this past spring, and Gary Tanaka was hot on the trail of a German horse he wanted to buy. That was no surprise. Tanaka snaps Thoroughbreds off the international market like so many bags of snacks hanging by the checkout.
The animal in question was named Epalo, no star last year, but an improving 4-year-old then.
"The previous owner was hemming and hawing, until finally, he put him on the marketplace," Tanaka said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Colonial Colony, the shocking winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in June, will start in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 22. He is the only expected invader for the richest race of the Del Mar meeting.
Trainer Walter Bindner Jr. said he wants to start Colonial Colony in the Pacific Classic to gauge where the 6-year-old ranks against top handicap horse Pleasantly Perfect.
"We want to see where we stack up against Pleasantly Perfect," he said. "I know he's probably the best horse in training."
DEL MAR, Calif. - After racing strictly in top stakes in 2003, The Tin Man makes his 2004 debut Thursday against a field of battle-tested allowance-class horses in a $70,000 optional claimer at Del Mar.
has not started since finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf last October. Trained by Richard Mandella for Ralph and Aury Todd, The Tin Man was entered in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup a month later but was withdrawn because of an ankle injury.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The Arlington Million and Saratoga's Sword Dancer Handicap are both Grade 1 races. Both are on Saturday. The Million is worth twice as much money as the Sword Dancer, so it has attracted most of the nation's top long-distance grass runners.
That suits trainer H. Graham Motion just fine. He's not out for glory, just the right spot, and he believes the Sword Dancer could be just that for Better Talk Now, who most recently finished second in Belmont's Bowling Green Handicap to Million-bound Kicken Kris.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It's a family affair in Thursday's $75,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase at Saratoga, in which trainer Sanna Hendriks will send out , who is trained by her husband, Ricky, in the first of this track's major summer races for jumpers.
Praise the Prince, now 9, has been a favorite of the jump set for four seasons, dating back to his stellar 2001 campaign, during which he won the Grade 2 Smithwick. He finished second in this race last year, but has been out of action since taking the New York Turf Writers' Handicap last Aug. 28.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - This past weekend's announcement of the memorandum of agreement to bring the 2007 Breeders' Cup to Monmouth Park culminated a decade of pitches and presentations by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
With the Breeders' Cup headed to New Jersey, now comes another hard part: getting Monmouth ready to host Thoroughbred racing's season-ending championships.
"Now the real work begins," said Bob Kulina, the track's vice president.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - At age 8, Ivan Jay Perry is closing in on $400,000 in prize money, and he has held his form longer than the typical American racehorse. When he starts for a $62,500 claiming price Thursday at Arlington, Ivan Jay Perry will be taking a class drop, and that is saying something for an old-timer.
ETOBICOKE, Ont. - Stakes winner Boldest of All will experiment around two turns in Thursday's second race, a nonwinners of three allowance for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.
Boldest of All, a 4-year-old trained by Rita Schnitzler, won her maiden in a lucrative way at 2, in the restricted Nandi Stakes. She missed all of 2003 and returned to action with a sixth-place finish in allowance company April 17.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The powerful Godolphin Stable has sent one runner each for Saturday's Grade 1 Arlington Million and Grade 1 Beverly D., but they snuck another horse onto the back of the bus. Tizdubai, who vanished after impressively winning her only two starts at 2, is one of three horses besides the Grade 1 competitors that Godolphin has shipped to Arlington.
