ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Miss Grindstone, the Toronto Thoroughbred Racing Club's 2003 claimer of the year, will compete in Thursday's third race at Woodbine, an $80,000 optional claimer at six furlongs for fillies and mares.
Miss Grindstone, an astute $32,000 claim in 2001 by owner/trainer John Cardella, has banked more than $300,000 in the interim. A 6-year-old, she has won 10 of 19 lifetime starts, and won four of her eight starts in 2003.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A stakes-quality field featuring older female sprinters is the highlight of Wednesday's card at Belmont Park.
The likely favorite among the five runners in the fifth race is Kitty Knight, who lands in an easier spot after chasing Bear Fan in the Genuine Risk and Vagrancy, a pair of Grade 2 races run earlier in the meet. Wednesday's $56,000 optional claimer - none of the horses entered are eligible to be claimed - will be run at six furlongs.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Sightseek is 6 for 6 on the dirt courses of Belmont Park and Saratoga. With that in mind, trainer Bobby Frankel said Monday that Sightseek will make the final four starts of her career over those two tracks.
Frankel said that Sightseek came out of her 3 1/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap in good order and will pointed to a defense of her Go for Wand title on Aug. 1 at Saratoga. After that, Sightseek would attempt 1 1/4 miles in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap on Aug. 27.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Only one ticket was able to have even five winners in Sunday's pick six at Hollywood Park, leading to a carryover of $178,464.13 on Wednesday. It does not get any easier, particularly in Wednesday's featured seventh race, a wide-open grass race in which Reel 'Em In will seek his third straight victory.
The race, at one mile on turf, is for third-level allowance runners or $100,000 claimers. Reel 'Em In is one of two horses in the race eligible to be claimed.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - An international cast of 14 fillies has been invited to the $750,000 American Oaks, which has been newly minted as a Grade 1 event for its third running on the turf on July 3 at Hollywood Park. The horses with the longest trips already are arriving. The outstanding Japanese filly Dance in the Mood arrived in Los Angeles on Monday after a flight from Tokyo, one day after Boulevardofdreams flew in from New Zealand.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Queen's Plate action was furious, and fast, during a three-day span when seven of the 14 candidates for Sunday's $1 million, 1 1/4-mile feature for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds had their final major tune-ups.
Monday, Night Sky was impressive in a five-furlong breeze of 59.40 seconds, the fastest of 26 at the distance on Woodbine's fast main track.
Jim McAleney was aboard for the drill, in which Night Sky was clocked in 35 for his opening three furlongs and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sir Cherokee, the 2003 Arkansas Derby winner who has had an eventful 4-year-old season, has been taken out of training for about 30 days after surgery to remove what trainer Mike Tomlinson called "a tiny flake" from the colt's left front ankle.
Sir Cherokee, owned by the Domino Stud of Kenneth Jones Jr., had surgery by Dr. Larry Bramlage early last week and is expected to be back in time for a fall campaign, said Tomlinson. He finished third in a $75,000 handicap at Mountaineer Park in his last start June 5.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Tom Amoss has been in this position many times before. As a race meet winds down, Amoss finds himself in the thick of the battle for a training title and tempted to ask for a little more from his horses than he might if the situation were different.
"I've been down this road enough times that, hopefully, I know that when you get in this type of situation, you've got to be careful to do what's best for the horse," Amoss said.
CHICAGO - There is plenty going on at the top of the Arlington Park jockey colony. Rene Douglas, who comes to town in May and has left the last three autumns with a riding title, has finally surged into the lead, but barely. Through Sunday, Douglas had 26 wins, one more than Cruz Contreras, the apprentice rider about to lose his "bug." Tied with Contreras is a resurgent Eddie Razo, who has picked up his pace even while suffering a disappointment Saturday, when he finished fourth of five on odds-on favorite Mayo on the Side in the Grade 3 Chicago Breeders' Cup.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Bob Durso has several options after Frisky Spider's impressive pacesetting win in last Saturday's $60,000 Restoration Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Frisky Spider made a smooth transition to the turf in the Restoration, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds, and won at a route for the first time. Given his past success in main-track sprints, Frisky Spider has now shown the ability to go long or short on turf or dirt.
"Where are we going next? I don't know," Durso said Sunday. "It's nice to be in that position."
