CALGARY, Alberta - A $17,000 entry-level allowance was split into two divisions after 17 3-year-old colts and geldings were entered, and they provide co-features for a strong program Friday evening at Stampede Park.
The six-furlong races will go a long way in determining the field for the May 15 President's, the first stakes of the meet for this division.
AUBURN, Wash. - Slewicide Cruise, who finished second when Willie the Cat set a track-record here on opening night, heads a field of nine older sprinters in Friday's feature at Emerald Downs, a $25,000 optional claiming race at 5 1/2 furlongs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bobby Frankel is pretty confident Sightseek will be tough to beat in Friday's $300,000 Louisville Breeders' Cup Handicap - and why not? After all, at last check the 1 1/16-mile filly-and-mare fixture is still scheduled to be run at Churchill Downs, not Santa Anita.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On any other day, Azeri would be the marquee name on the billboard and the star of the show. But on the first Saturday in May, even a multiple Eclipse Award winner and former Horse of the Year must take a back seat to the main event, the 130th Kentucky Derby. Azeri will have to play a supporting role Saturday, when she makes her second start of the season in the $250,000 Humana Distaff Handicap.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Perfect Drift won the biggest race at Churchill Downs for older horses last year when he upset the eventual Horse of the Year, Mineshaft, in the Stephen Foster Handicap. He will prep for this year's Stephen Foster on Friday in the $100,000 Alysheba Stakes, which also lured the 2002 Belmont Stakes winner, Sarava, and the tough Spanish Empire.
The Alysheba is new to the stakes calendar this year, and horsemen responded. Eleven horses were entered in the 1 1/16-mile race, part of the stakes-filled Kentucky Oaks undercard.
With the more prestigious races for 3-year-old turf horses scheduled for the summer, the connections of Kitten's Joy figured earlier was better than later to give the horse a freshening.
That break comes to an end when Kitten's Joy heads a nine-horse field entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Crown Royal American Turf at 1 1/16 miles. Kitten's Joy, who is 4 for 4 on turf, including two graded stakes wins, will be making his first start in 69 days. The only race Kitten's Joy missed was the Transylvania at Keeneland on April 2.
Gingham and Lace ended her 2003 campaign with a victory in her first start on turf, and she picked right up in her first start this year, winning a grass allowance race at Gulfstream Park. Now 2 for 2 on turf, she will attempt to nail down her first stakes victory in Friday's $100,000 Edgewood Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Gingham and Lace is trained by Frank Brothers, and was ridden in her first four starts by Rene Douglas. But, as Brothers did with his undefeated Oaks filly, Madcap Escapade, he is switching to jockey Jerry Bailey for Friday's race.
It was a year ago that Fiscally Speaking lit up the Churchill tote board with a $96.80 win mutuel in the Aegon Turf Sprint. Since then, Fiscally Speaking has run five times without a victory, meaning a repeat in the Aegon would be about as big a surprise as last year.
Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., will open its new 150,000-square-foot casino to the public on Friday.
The pavilion will include a 50,000-square-foot gambling area that will house 1,402 slot machines, a high-rollers area, and a customer-rewards center. The building will also include three restaurants and a bar. An entryway will connect the casino to the racetrack grandstand, which has housed the slots casino since its opening in May 2003. Plans call for the former slots area to be converted to a horse racing simulcast center.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Funny Cide, last year's Kentucky Derby winner, continued his preparations for the Grade 1 Pimlico Special by working five furlongs in 1:00.02 at Belmont Park on Wednesday.
With exercise rider Robin Smullen in the saddle, Funny Cide worked after the harrow break on the main track, which was listed as good. Before the renovation break, the track was sealed because of overnight rain.