GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Death Trappe had no problems in reacquainting himself with the sharper turns of this five-eighths-mile track last Saturday, when he narrowly missed the stakes record in taking the Ogataul Handicap by 4 1/4 lengths. He sped the six furlongs in 1:11.60 after shaking off an early challenger.
Gene owns the stakes record of 1:11.40.
The MBNA America Challenge Championships, a Breeders' Cup-style championship for Quarter Horses on Nov. 6, will highlight the Quarter Horse meet at Sam Houston Race Park. The track will run an extended, 95-date meet for Quarter Horses this year, with the season set to start on April 23 and run through Nov. 6.
Sam Houston has scheduled 58 stakes worth more than $2 million this meet. The track has taken on Quarter Horse dates from other facilities in Texas to accommodate the running of the Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park in October.
Willie Gotta Pie and Jabonerita Chicks, who finished a head apart while running one-two in the Madeira Beach Handicap on Feb. 20, will meet again in the $26,600 La Pacifica Handicap for 3-year-old fillies over 350 yards Friday night at Los Alamitos.
Sent off at 23-1 in the Madeira Beach, a 300-yard stakes, Willie Gotta Pie used a late run to win, and he could enjoy the extra 50 yards of the La Pacifica.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It just so happens that in the one year Churchill Downs might dearly love to have a few extra days to prepare for the first Saturday in May, the Kentucky Derby will be run as early as the calendar will allow: May 1.
With a mere six weeks before Derby 130, Churchill officials are working feverishly to ensure that their complex array of temporary facilities and contingency plans for what is being called "The Demolition Derby" will be ready for the usual large crowd.
NEW ORLEANS - It is like wind coming over a lake. The talk gusts around the railbirds in the grandstand and up through the glittering pinkie rings in the clubhouse's private rooms. Be it $2 or $2,000, you can bet your money: Bobby likes this horse.
"Every time I run a first-timer from Europe with any kind of form, he goes off favored," said trainer Bobby Frankel. And then he added: "Whether I like the horse or not."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita Oaks winner Silent Sighs will be fresh and rested when she makes her next start April 30 in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
"I don't want to run too many times, and she runs huge fresh," said her trainer, Julio Canani.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The China Doll Stakes is an overnight race with a mere $70,000 purse. So when graded stakes winner Mambo Slew faces nine other 3-year-old fillies in the mile turf race Thursday at Santa Anita, wise guys will scheme to beat her.
has won three straight, including two stakes, and enters as the class of the field. But with big money on the horizon, there is little reason for Mambo Slew to be fully cranked. Trainer Patrick Biancone recognizes the dilemma. "It's not the main objective, but I will be very disappointed if she does not win," he said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Jimmy Jerkens was looking forward to a productive winter at Aqueduct with Snake Mountain, who had won three inner-track stakes at the 2002-2003 meet.
Those plans fell through, however, when Snake Mountain developed an abscess in his right hind foot. When Snake Mountain failed to respond to routine treatment, he was sent in December to the New Jersey Equine Clinic and treated by Dr. Patty Hogan.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - On Tuesday at Aqueduct, Redskin Warrior was aggressive in his final work for Saturday's $200,000 Gotham Stakes. After covering a half-mile in 47.48 seconds, Redskin Warrior appeared eager for more and didn't make it easy for jockey Richard Migliore to pull him up.
As Migliore rode Redskin Warrior back to trainer Jennifer Pedersen's barn, he told Pedersen and owner Ernie Paragallo that Redskin Warrior is well prepared for Saturday.
