CHICAGO - There is little doubt El Condor is good enough to win the featured seventh race Thursday at Arlington Park. But he might need a rousing pep talk, preferably of the "You gotta want it" variety.
has started 11 times on turf, and he is quite decent. But in six of his starts, El Condor has finished second, and paired up with one lonely win, his grass record makes one suspect El Condor is not on full throttle at the wire.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer John Dowd hopes a return to Monmouth Park and a shift to the turf will revive Whirlwind Charlott in Thursday's featured $41,000 turf allowance sprint.
She made a very favorable impression in two stakes starts here last year at 2. Whirlwind Charlott ran third in the Colleen and second in the Grade 3 Sorority.
Her 3-year-old campaign has been a disappointment, with no victories in five starts.
"We're hoping the turf will move her up," said Dowd.
Prairie Meadows ended its 49-day Thoroughbred meeting Sunday with across-the-board increases in handle.
Average daily ontrack handle was $79,777, a 9 percent increase from $72,999 in 2003's 52-day meet. All-sources daily average handle was $793,160, up 20 percent from 2003. The increase can be in part attributed to racing four days per week this year as opposed to five in 2003, when Sunday racing was conducted on a regular basis.
Prairie Meadows does not release attendance figures, because its casino is open 24 hours a day and no admission fee is charged.
Last weekend kept getting better for Steve Asmussen. He became the first trainer to win 500 races at Lone Star Park on Saturday, after Star of Caveat's victory in the first, and later in the day recorded his sixth 2-year-old stakes win of the year when Ready to Live won the $50,000 Rebel at Louisiana Downs.
Asmussen picked up another juvenile stakes win Monday, when Lunarpal captured the $150,000 Bashford Manor at Churchill Downs. Not long after that win, he officially wrapped up the title in Louisville, Ky.
Happy Ticket looks like she might develop into something special for owner Stewart Madison and trainer Andrew Leggio Jr. She remained perfect in two starts Friday, when she rolled to a 12 1/4-length win over entry-level allowance foes at Louisiana Downs.
For her effort in the six-furlong race, Happy Ticket, a 3-year-old, earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure. It was the second blowout win for Happy Ticket, who won her maiden by 9 3/4 lengths June 4.
In both races, she ran six furlongs in 1:10.40.
Following a $25,000 supplemental payment by owner Bobby Cox, Ruidoso Futurity winner All About Ease will try to get another race closer to a $4 million bonus when she starts in fourth of 20 400-yard trials to the Grade 1, $750,000 Rainbow Futurity trials on Thursday at Ruidoso Downs.
Atypically, the first post will be at noon because of the large number of trials.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Quite a Ruckus made a splashy debut here in Sunday's My Dear, scoring by four lengths in the five-furlong stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
Now, trainer Mark Casse is aiming Quite a Ruckus for the Grade 2, $150,000 Schuylerville, a six-furlong race at Saratoga on July 28.
"She showed a lot from the beginning," said Casse, who trains the Kentucky homebred.
"She was ready to run a month and a half ago, but she got sick.
"She had trained as well as any horse I've ever had, at this point in time. I think she's better than Maple Syrple was."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Choreography, a nominee to Sunday's Bold Venture Handicap, has opted instead for Thursday's Woodbine headliner, an $80,000 allowance/optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up.
Choreography, a 4-year-old trained by Canadian Hall of Famer Jerry Meyer, has had a productive 2004 campaign, which began at Aqueduct in February following a layoff. He won an entry-level allowance there in March and returned here after finishing fifth in a second-level allowance April 9.
AUBURN, Wash. - In an apparent attempt to get fans in the mood for next month's Grade 3 Longacres Mile, Paul Ryneveld, the director of racing at Emerald Downs, has carded six races at one mile, including the feature, on Thursday's eight-race program.
The feature, which will go as the fourth race, will match six 3-year-old fillies eligible to be claimed for $15,000.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - The first week of the Alameda County Fair unveiled one potential 2-year-old star as well as two others who may make names for themselves in their juvenile seasons.
Trainer Jeff Bonde had planned to debut Sterling Cat in the Juan Gonzalez Memorial Stakes. He did that with last year's Juan Gonzalez winner, Lyin Goddess, and had previously won the stakes with another maiden.
"I do some crazy things in my hometown," he said.
Maybe not so crazy - Bonde thought he had something in Sterling Cat, and he was right.