SANTA ROSA, Calif. - One of the interesting aspects of northern California fair racing is that a mundane race card can be made all the more interesting by the addition of non-Thoroughbred races.
Thursday's Sonoma County Fair card is a perfect example.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Alex Solis was scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday night to have a rod inserted into his back to support the T-5 vertebra that was fractured in an accident last Friday at Del Mar, said his agent, Scotty McClellan, on Tuesday afternoon.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Bobby Frankel's plans to stretch out Ghostzapper around two turns in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap on Aug. 7 have hit a snag.
Ghostzapper has shed a frog - the protective cushion for the sole of the foot - on his left front foot and is unlikely to make the race. The Whitney would have been Ghostzapper's first start beyond seven furlongs. Ghostzapper most recently won the Grade 2 Tom Fool Handicap at seven furlongs, his first start of the year.
On average, trainer James E. Hodges has won with every other horse he has started this meet at Louisiana Downs. His 13-for-26 record places him sixth in the standings through Tuesday, and his 50 percent win rate is the highest among the top 10 trainers in Bossier City, La.
Hodges first came to Louisiana Downs in 1989, when he switched over to training Thoroughbreds after spending 15 years with Quarter Horses. He is in the midst of his best meet at the track.
"This is one of the biggest stables I've ever had here," said Hodges, 67.
The Los Angeles County Fair has boosted the purses of 12 stakes, and eliminated one, for its upcoming meeting at Fairplex Park in Pomona from Sept. 10-26.
There is one Thoroughbred stakes each day during the meeting, which runs for 17 consecutive days.
The Foothill, Phil Shepherd, E.B. Johnston, Derby Trial, Beau Brummel, Governor's Cup, Bustles and Bows, Pio Pico, Marian, Bangles and Beads, Black Swan, and Gateway to Glory stakes were increased in value from $50,000 in 2003 to $60,000 this year.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Rajiv Maragh figured there was no point in heading to Saratoga. With one of the deepest jockey colonies in the world, Saratoga didn't figure to offer many opportunities for a seven-pound apprentice rider.
"I didn't want to go to Saratoga," Maragh said. "It's not a good place for an apprentice. You only get the leftovers with all the best jockeys there. You just don't get a chance."
Maragh, who had been riding at Belmont Park since May, decided that Monmouth Park was a better option for the remainder of the summer.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - My Vintage Port has shadowed Eye of the Sphynx and Touchnow while finishing third in each of the first two legs of the triple tiara for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
In the Woodbine Oaks, the 1 1/8-mile first leg of the triple on June 13, My Vintage Port finished 13 1/4 lengths behind winner Eye of the Sphynx and nine behind runner-up Touchnow.
In the 1 1/16-mile Bison City at Fort Erie, the second leg of the series, My Vintage Port was beaten two lengths by the winner Touchnow and 1 3/4 lengths by Eye of the Sphynx.
AUBURN, Wash. - Poker Brad will go in the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 22.
Poker Brad, who finished second to Sky Jack in last year's Mile, earned his berth with a repeat victory in Sunday's 1 1/8-mile Mt. Rainier Breeders' Cup Handicap, scoring by two lengths over Mr. Makah in a stakes record 1:46.60.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Lunarpal is 4 for 4 with three stakes wins, yet his trainer, Steve Asmussen, has been asked more than once if he has a better 2-year-old in the barn.
"The only horse to have done what he has done to this point they named Horse of the Year," said Asmussen, referring to Favorite Trick, who in 1997 became the first 2-year-old to sweep the trio of juvenile stakes held during the Churchill Downs spring meet. "To suggest that I have another one of them is crazy. He gets no respect. I don't know why he gets no respect."
