Trainer Al Stall Jr.'s return to Louisiana Downs has been a resounding success. The trainer won four races over the track's opening weekend, and for an encore won with four of five starters last weekend. Stall had three winners on Saturday and a day later sent out Skymeister to win the $50,000 Arcadia Stakes.
Overall, he has won with 10 of his 27 starters this meet to rank third in the standings to leader Cole Norman.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - While Eye of the Sphynx was in the spotlight following Sunday's Labatt Woodbine Oaks, the most impressive performer on the card actually competed in the day's preceding race.
That's when Organ Grinder won the 1 1/8-mile Victoria Park Stakes, his six-length victory good for a lofty Beyer Speed Figure of 103.
Prior to the Victoria Park, trainer Sid Attard had suggested that Organ Grinder probably had needed his second race of the season, where he finished second to the winter-conditioned Judiths Wild Rush in the 1 1/16-mile Marine here May 23.
AUBURN, Wash. - When stakes are run at Emerald Downs, trainer Bud Klokstad comes prepared.
Klokstad, who was second only to Glen Williams in stakes victories at Longacres, is Emerald's leading stakes trainer with 37 added-money wins, and is the only trainer who has won stakes in each of the track's nine seasons.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Peace Rules, beaten nine lengths when fourth in Saturday's Stephen Foster Handicap run over a sloppy Churchill Downs track, may come right back in three weeks in the $500,000 Suburban Handicap on July 3 at Belmont Park, trainer Bobby Frankel said.
Frankel attributed Peace Rules's performance in the Foster to the off going, saying "he's never run good on an off-track before.'' Peace Rules is 0 for 3 on a wet track and 5 for 9 on a fast track.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Seven stakes winners, who are a combined 2 for 18 this year, seek a return to glory Wednesday when they run in a $56,000 classified allowance race at one mile over Belmont Park's Widener Turf Course.
Six of the seven runners are dropping out of graded-stakes company, while Region of Merit, the 2003 Tampa Bay Derby winner, tries turf for the first time. Four additional horses were entered main-track only.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Northern California's annual whistle-stop tour of county fairs, which makes eight stops, begins Wednesday when the San Joaquin County Fair opens in Stockton.
Stops on the circuit, which include Thoroughbred, Arabian, Appaloosa, Quarter Horse and mule racing, are in Pleasanton, Vallejo, Santa Rosa, Ferndale, Sacramento, and Fresno, as well as a two-week stint at Bay Meadows for the San Mateo County Fair.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bay Meadows will wind up its spring meeting with a pair of strong weekend stakes.
Racing secretary Tom Doutrich received 16 nominations for Saturday's Grade 3, $125,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint at six furlongs and 18 for Sunday's $55,000-added Foster City Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Seven runners have already been listed as starters in the sprint: Cappuchino, a stakes winner, will be joined by Debonair Joe, Giovannetti, Green Team, Hombre Rapido, Sirpa, and Smile N Wildcat. R. Baggio, trained by Eric Kruljac, is probable.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Tim Yakteen, the assistant trainer in charge of Bob Baffert's Hollywood Park division and a former assistant trainer to Charles Whittingham, beamed as he strode toward the racetrack after Sabiango's win in Saturday's $350,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap.
Sabiango, who had not started since finishing last of 14 in the Hong Kong Vase last December, had pulled off a surprise win in the Grade 1 Whittingham, leading throughout 1 1/4 miles on turf.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Vencer scored such a flashy win against maidens in his debut on May 15 that owner Stan Fulton and trainer Rafael Becerra nominated him for Saturday's $100,000 Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Fulton and Becerra feel Vencer is stakes quality, but they plan to bypass the Affirmed in favor of a $50,000 allowance race over 1 1/16 miles on Wednesday.
If Vencer wins, he will be considered for the Grade 2 Swaps Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on July 10.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As the spirited duel was about to reach its dramatic conclusion in the Stephen Foster Handicap on Saturday at Churchill Downs, it appeared that Southern Image, the highweight and 3-2 favorite, was getting the best of his pesky rival, longshot Colonial Colony, when he finally poked his head in front.