HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Patrick Byrne was the first to concede would need a race going into The Very One Handicap on Feb. 28, and that he was using the race as a prep for Ocean Silk's main goal this winter, Sunday's $200,000 Orchid Handicap.
Although she had been idle for four months, Ocean Silk finished second to the favored Binya in the 1 3/8-mile The Very One. Off that performance, she figures to be tough to beat when stretching out an additional furlong in the Grade 2 Orchid.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - You are not seeing things. That is Shake You Down racing for a $50,000 purse Sunday in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
The Hot Springs is a prep for the Grade 3, $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn on April 8, and it drew a field of five. Skeet, who earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure for his smashing win last out in the $50,000 King Cotton, was the early favorite for the Hot Springs before Shake You Down set his sights on the race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - There aren't any Oaks fillies running Sunday at Santa Anita, and so what? There is life competing around one turn, and six fillies will be out to prove it Sunday when they race 6 1/2 furlongs in the $75,000-added Santa Paula Stakes.
Considering that Basketball Court began his career by running four times against maiden claimers, he certainly didn't appear to be a young colt with much of a future.
Since he was claimed for $25,000 by trainer Henry Walters, however, Basketball Court has improved greatly and has fired his best shot every time, moving up in class in each race. Basketball Court has a big shot to secure his first stakes victory in Sunday's $60,000 Horatius, a six-furlong stakes for 3-year-olds at Laurel Park.
NEW ORLEANS - Herculated earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 104 in his last start. Great. Seen standing tied to the back of his stall Friday morning, Herculated looked the picture - gleaming coat, sleek musculature, ears alert. Wonderful.
For all the things that have gone right for him this winter, and for all the obvious talent Herculated has displayed in his young career, nobody, not even those closest to him, knows how Herculated stacks up Sunday in the Mervin Muniz Handicap.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainers Jenine Sahadi and Donna Elordi have two things in common heading into Sunday's $55,000-added Soviet Problem Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.
Both have fast, talented runners, and both are glad not to be facing what could be California's top female sprinter, Ema Bovary, in the six-furlong race.
The Southern California-based Sahadi sends up Annabelly, a winner of three straight, to make her stakes debut. Elordi counters with multiple stakes winner Pheiffer, who is coming off a victory in the Richmond Handicap here.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When Azeri first returned to the track around the new year, there was great skepticism over her chances of getting back to the races. But on Friday morning at Santa Anita she moved ever closer to her comeback, with a swift seven-furlong work in 1:24.60 that was three seconds faster than the second-best time at the distance.
"She galloped out a strong mile and wouldn't pull up," said D. Wayne Lukas, who now trains Azeri. "She's doing excellent. I couldn't be happier. She looks like she's right on schedule."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Scott Lake's goal this year for Shake You Down, who will run Sunday in the $50,000 Hot Springs at Oaklawn Park, can be summed up in two words: champion sprinter. Lake has mapped out a campaign for Shake You Down that he hopes will get the horse recognized with an Eclipse Award.
"Our goal is sprinter of the year," said Lake.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The first offtrack betting site ever to challenge Churchill Downs-owned Trackside in the Louisville simulcast market is set to open Monday morning in Clarksville, Ind., just several miles across the Ohio River from downtown Louisville.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Keith Sirota has tried to duck the big guns as best he can while waiting for Wacky for Love to cycle back to his top form here this winter. Now his horse is at the top of his game, and the competition should be more to his liking when he goes postward among the favorites in next Saturday's $100,000 Artax Handicap.