CARENCRO, La. - Out with the old and in with the new.
While that phrase will be more appropriate for Evangeline Downs in 2005, when racing will be held at the track's new facility some 15 miles north on I-49, this year's 87-day meeting, which begins Thursday, promises to bring its share of changes.
ALBANY, Calif. - What would happen if Golden Gate Fields carded a grass race and no turf runners entered?
You would have Thursday's feature, a $40,000 starter allowance race at 1 1/16 miles in which the seven 3-year-olds will all make their turf debut.
None of the seven seems to be bred to improve dramatically on turf. The race has the look of an experiment to find additional career options.
Tomlinson turf ratings indicate Elron may appreciate the grass more than his rivals.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park is a harbinger every March that big-time racing is just around the corner in Kentucky.
On Friday, when the 15-day spring meet at Keeneland begins, the corner will have been turned. And to drive home the point that a great concentration of racing power has reassembled in Kentucky, the 67th running of the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes on Saturday might just be the best ever.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Cajun Beat flew halfway around the world and survived another two weeks in Dubai training up to the $2 million Golden Shaheen Sprint with nary a scratch or setback. But just minutes before the race, the defending Breeders' Cup Sprint champion was kicked on the right leg by his lead pony, and in the blink of an eye perhaps all chance of winning the world's richest sprint race was lost.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After a strong workout on Monday at Belmont Park, Cuba has put himself in the Wood Memorial picture.
Tom Bush, Cuba's trainer, said he is thinking about running the son of Not for Love in the $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 10.
Wearing blinkers for the first time, Cuba sizzled in a five-furlong work in 59.27 seconds over the training track with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan aboard. It was the fastest of 24 works at the distance.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The complexion of Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby changed significantly on Monday following either key workouts or audibles called by several trainers. Most notably, Lion Heart will skip the race to point for the following week's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, Action This Day is now under consideration for the Santa Anita Derby, and Rock Hard Ten and Wimbledon served notice with sharp morning drills that they will be the ones to beat in the Santa Anita Derby, a Grade 1, 1 1/8-mile race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Victor Espinoza will appeal a seven-day suspension he received following the Grade 2 Santa Ana Handicap on Saturday in which his mount, Megahertz, was disqualified from victory and placed last. Stewards Ingrid Fermin, Pete Pedersen, and Tom Ward suspended Espinoza for seven racing days, April 2-10, for "failure to make the proper effort to maintain a straight course in the stretch, causing interference that resulted in the disqualification of his mount from first to seventh position."
ARCADIA, Calif. - A pick-six bettor could do worse than single European import Juliette in the feature race Wednesday at Santa Anita, where a $190,587 carryover is up for grabs. Beyond solid European form, Juliette makes her U.S. debut for one of the hottest trainers in Southern California.
Bobby Frankel, who has won with 24 of his last 71 starters at Santa Anita, said Juliette is primed for a top effort first out.
"She's dead fit," he said, adding that she is no secret. "She probably will be favored; she has good form in Europe."
ARCADIA, Calif. - The immediate future of jockey Patrick Valenzuela will be clarified this week when Santa Anita stewards issue a formal recommendation to the California Horse Racing Board regarding Valenzuela's one-year conditional license, which was suspended on Jan. 23.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Nick Zito said Monday that his 3-year-old star Eurosilver continues to be closely monitored for a glandular infection but that he is hopeful the colt will recover soon enough to return to the Kentucky Derby trail.
Zito, speaking from Keeneland in Lexington, said veterinarian Paul Byars has been treating Eurosilver for the infection, and that the situation remains "a day-by-day thing." Zito declared Eurosilver out of the April 10 Blue Grass Stakes on Friday.
