SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jerry Hollendorfer tied a Northern California training record with five wins at Bay Meadows on Wednesday.
It marked the third time Hollendorfer has won five races in a day. He also did it at Golden Gate Fields on May 1, 1996, and at Bay Meadows on Jan. 23, 1997. Walter Greenman (Nov. 25, 1970 at Bay Meadows) and Ace Gibson (Feb. 24, 1971 at Golden Gate Fields) also had five winners in one day.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Powerful Touch was among the more highly regarded hopefuls during the early stages of last year's Triple Crown trail before being sidelined by injury. On Friday, he makes his third start back from a long layoff and may be a slight favorite over seven rivals in the featured third-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles.
, a son of 1997 Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold, was second in a photo when he made his stakes debut in the 2003 running of the Holy Bull, beating 11 rivals including eventual Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Shug McGaughey has won enough races to easily fill the plaque he will receive when he is inducted into Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame in August. But one race missing from McGaughey's resume that he would love to win before that plaque is made is the Metropolitan Handicap, which will be run Monday for the 111th time.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Momentum, who finished second in three top handicap races in the summer of 2002, returns after a layoff of nearly 19 months in Monday's $350,000 Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park.
Wednesday, owner Paul Reddam supplemented Momentum, 6, to the Grade 1 Shoemaker at a cost of $7,000. The Shoemaker will be Momentum's first start since he finished second to Pleasantly Perfect in the Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita in October 2002.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The breathtaking rally that carried Choctaw Nation from last to first in a little more than a quarter-mile at Santa Anita on April 18 looked the move of a potential stakes horse.
Not so fast, trainer Jeff Mullins said.
Mullins wants to take a slower approach to the 4-year-old's career, giving Choctaw Nation a chance to win another allowance race or two before stakes are considered.
Friday evening at Hollywood Park, will attempt to stretch his unbeaten streak to four in a $54,000 optional claimer over 1 1/8 miles.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Mike Morgan, injured in a four-horse spill last Sunday at Churchill Downs, was released from Norton Audubon Hospital on Tuesday. A doctor's evaluation revealed one cracked vertebra and one "trapped" vertebra, the rider said.
Morgan and three other jockeys - Rafael Bejarano, Daniel Coa, and Joe Deegan - were thrown to the track when their mounts fell in Sunday's 10th race, a one-mile maiden-claiming race. Coa and Deegan were both evaluated at Louisville hospitals and released Sunday evening. Bejarano did not require medical treatment after the accident.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Even the most grizzled backstretch veterans say they learn something new about racing with surprising frequency. As a fifth-generation horseman, Pat Byrne has seen a lot of horses come and go, but even he might admit that he seldom has changed equipment on a horse for the very reason that Denim Wildcat will don blinkers for the first time Friday.
CALGARY, Alberta - The much-anticipated rematch between
A Shaky Start, winner of the M.R. Jenkins Memorial here May 9, and her arch-rival Raylene, a fast-closing second in that six-furlong sprint, fizzled in Monday's $40,000 Ken Pearson Memorial at Stampede Park.
A Shaky Start, who enjoyed a perfect journey in her Jenkins tally, broke awkwardly, spotting her three rivals valuable lengths, and under Leanne Painter was never able to mount a sustained bid over a muddy and tiring surface.
AUBURN, Wash. - Recent winners Bob Stories and Table Me N Saros face off in Friday's Emerald Downs feature, a six-furlong test for $6,250 claimers that has attracted a field of seven older sprinters.
Bob Stories defeated Factory Mill, who is also in Friday's field, by nearly two lengths when he scored going 6 1/2 furlongs while racing at the $5,000 claiming level on May 9. It was the 17th victory from 86 tries for Bob Stories, an 8-year-old son of Old Stories who is trained by George Colello.
BALTIMORE - It was February in California, and Ryan Fogelsonger had it made - young, money in the bank, career, woman on his arm, no college loans, even a puppy to dote over.
Most 22-year-olds would have been enjoying the high life - make enough money to pay the rent and design the day around catching the most sun. Instead, he was crying the blues to his former agent, Kevin Witte, in Maryland.
"What's happening?" Witte asked. "You and your girl having problems?"
"No, we're fine," Fogelsonger said.
"Work bothering you?" Witte asked.