CHICAGO - He will probably not get a police motorcade as his horse van travels crosstown from O'Hare airport to Hawthorne Race Course on Wednesday. But as far as Saturday's National Jockey Club Handicap goes, Ten Most Wanted has the status of a visiting dignitary.
The five horses entered on Tuesday to face him in the Grade 3, $250,000 race, have earned a total of about $1,262,000 among them. Ten Most Wanted, just a 4-year-old now, has bankrolled more than $1.5 million.
BOWIE, Md. - You remember last Saturday - the Wood Memorial, Blue Grass, and Arkansas Derby, all designed to calm the 3-year-old rumble.
On the same day as those public displays, Water Cannon, a gray gelding who will someday grow into his head and legs, worked an easy half-mile in 47.40 seconds at Bowie Racecourse. While the first-team 3-year-olds eyed the Kentucky Derby, Water Cannon prepared for the Federico Tesio on Saturday at Pimlico.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Castledale, the upset winner of the Santa Anita Derby on April 3, moved closer to an expected start in the Kentucky Derby with a five-furlong breeze at Santa Anita on Wednesday.
The workout was Castledale's first since the Santa Anita Derby, his first stakes win on dirt in the United States.
The time of the workout was the subject of debate. Officially, Castledale was timed in 59.60 seconds, which tied for the ninth-fastest of 43 recorded works at the distance. Trainer Jeff Mullins and co-owner Frank Lyons timed him in 58.80 seconds.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Buddy Gil was expected to be an important factor in the handicap division at the Santa Anita meeting, which ends Sunday.
Instead, he was well beaten in the Malibu Stakes, Strub Stakes, and Santa Anita Handicap.
Friday, Buddy Gil returns in a $65,000 allowance race over a mile, a race that trainer Jeff Mullins says he hopes will revive Buddy Gil's career. The money allowance is the third race on a nine-race program that begins at 3 p.m.
CALGARY, Alberta - The road to the May 15 President's Handicap and, ultimately, the Alberta Derby begins Friday evening with a pair of six-furlong sprints scheduled as the sixth and seventh races.
When a conditioned allowance for nonwinners other than maiden or claiming drew 16 3-year-olds, race secretary Barry McGrath split the race, producing co-features that will give an early look at derby hopefuls.
AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs will launch its ninth season on Friday with an eight-race card featuring a pair of attractive allowance sprints.
Highlights of the meeting include the 69th running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 22 and the second annual Washington Cup Day, with five stakes worth $400,000, on Sept. 19.
The opening night allowance races are a five-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds that will go as the sixth and a 5 1/2-furlong sprint for older horses that will go as the seventh.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Victory Encounter arrived in New York on Wednesday morning from California as the mystery horse for Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup Handicap.
Victory Encounter has won six of nine career starts, including the Grade 2 El Encino at Santa Anita in January. But she comes off the worst performance of her career, a last-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 2 La Canada on Feb. 14.
Trainer John Sadler still isn't sure what went awry in the La Canada, but he says he believes whatever it might have been is behind her.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jockey Kevin Radke suffered a fractured left wrist and compound fracture of his nose when he fell after his mount, Reflected Lite, clipped heels with Terra Firma on the first turn of a one-mile turf race at Bay Meadows on Wednesday.
Radke, who won the riding title at the recent Golden Gate Fields meeting to snap Russell Baze's long streak at major northern California meets, was taken to Stanford Hospital after the spill.