Yet another development on the busy Michigan Thoroughbred horse racing scene will take place on Sunday: Horse racing.
After a seemingly endless off-season parade of legislative maneuvering, track license applications, "racino" rumors, and politics as usual, the actual sport gets back in the saddle Saturday when Great Lakes Downs begins its sixth meeting at the track near Muskegon on the state's west side.
There are 10 racetrack license applications currently awaiting approval by Michigan Racing Commissioner Robert Geake. Under current law, Geake can grant one license for the city of Detroit, one license for the Detroit metropolitan area outside of the city, and unlimited outstate licenses. Here's a look at the individuals and groups applying for licenses.
Metro Detroit
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Steve Asmussen, the leading trainer in the country in wins, will send two stakes winners, Two Down Automatic and Private Emblem, to New York for races at Aqueduct next weekend.
Two Down Automatic, second to the undefeated Smarty Jones in the Southwest Stakes in February, will start in the $150,000 Withers on Saturday, Kentucky Derby Day. The following afternoon, Asmussen will run Private Emblem in the $75,000-added Kings Point Handicap for New York-breds.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Storybook Kid, who ran some of the best races of his career at Lone Star Park last season, returns to the track Sunday for a $40,000 turf allowance that figures to produce starters for the $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup here June 19.
Storybook Kid finished third to Patrol in that race last year after winning two allowances at Lone Star. A former claimer, he has become a different kind of animal on turf, and looks like the one to beat in a competitive race Sunday.
STICKNEY, Ill. - For a trainer with a fourth-level allowance horse, entry day is teeth-gnashing day. In the era of short fields, racing secretaries have trouble making these high-end races go. A horseman might have spent months preparing for a specific race, only to see it fail to fill. The horse stays in its stall.
What in the world happened at Hawthorne on Friday, when entries were taken for Sunday? Not only did a fourth-level allowance make it into the card, it drew 11 entries - a wealth of good horses.
AUBURN, Wash. - Willie the Cat will head a compact field of five in Sunday's 66th running of the six-furlong, $40,000 Seattle Handicap at Emerald Downs.
Willie the Cat, a homebred son of Delineator who races for Ron Crocket Inc., is coming back nine days after setting a track record for 5 1/2 furlongs in the allowance feature on opening night, April 16.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It could be difficult to get past Bates in the ninth race at Hastings, a six-furlong, $32,000 optional race that drew a full field of 10 plus two also-eligibles.
A 6-year-old gelding, Bates is one tough customer. He's capable of running hooked every step of the way, and the big difference between him and the other contenders in the field is that he's proven himself against very classy older horses.
CALGARY, Alberta - There are some issues concerning Private Issue, the morning-line favorite in a six-furlong maiden special weight for 3-year-olds that runs as the sixth of eight races at Stampede Sunday.
Private Issue is the most experienced horse in the field of nine, which is not necessarily viewed as an advantage when handicapping maiden races. The gelding is 0 for 8, but has been close each time.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Nashinda, perhaps the most talented 2-year-old filly at Woodbine in 2003, will make her much-anticipated return from an extended layoff in Sunday's $133,875 Star Shoot Stakes.
A full sister to 1998 Queen's Plate winner Archers Bay, Nashinda was no secret when she made her debut last May in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special. She justified her favoritism with an easy score in 51.80 seconds, which earned her a Beyer Figure of 87.
AUBURN, Wash. - When Debbie Hoonan drove Blameitontherain to a last-gasp victory in last Saturday's seventh race at Emerald Downs, she experienced a rush of emotion that had been missing from her life for more than a decade.
"It could have been the Kentucky Derby," she said. "I wouldn't have felt any better."
Last weekend was the first time Hoonan had ridden in a race in nearly 12 years, and she won aboard her third mount.