Pawyne Princess, sent off at 1-5 after her 8 1/4-length maiden victory at six furlongs, failed in her bid to stretch out to 1 1/16 miles in the Wide Country at Laurel, finishing third.
After sitting just off the pace set by Spirited Game, Pawyne Princess, ridden by Jeremy Rose, made her move on the turn and had a two-length lead at the eighth pole, looking like a winner.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ground Storm splashed to a 1 1/4-length win in Saturday's $81,625 Stymie Handicap at Aqueduct, winning the race for the second time in the last three years.
Big Sid's Party finished second in the 1 1/8-mile Stymie, which was run in the slop. It was another four lengths to Nothing Flat, who finished third. Classic Endeavor, Lord Ofthe Thunder, and Levendis completed the order of finish.
Loving, the morning-line favorite, was scratched because he has a quarter crack, according to his trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr.
NEW ORLEANS - People usually come to this town for evenings of sheer gluttony and utter debauchery, but this weekend, New Orleans has become the most popular campaign stop in the nation. On Friday, Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for President, had a rally at a park next to the French Quarter. His race is eight months long; it is only eight weeks, however, until the Kentucky Derby. The campaign for that race moves through the Fair Grounds on Sunday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The road to the winner's circle in the $50,000 Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Sunday could go through trainer Donnie Von Hemel. He will start See How She Runs, who scratched from a Friday allowance in favor of the 5 1/2-furlong race, and Surf N Sand, who will add blinkers.
Others in the six-horse field include Eternal Cup, who in her last start won the $50,000 American Beauty, and Emily Ring, a multiple-stakes-winning earner of $360,625.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The trainer of the top sprinter in California was way too confident. Can you fault him? Bluesthestandard's workouts following an impressive comeback victory have been so strong that Ted H. West said Friday, "I'm really too confident for my own good."
ALBANY, Calif. - The general manager of Golden Gate Fields, Michael Scalzo, is confident the track can close out its current meeting with a bang.
"Hopefully, with good weather, a strong stakes schedule, and getting back on the turf course, we will finish strong," he said.
NEW ORLEANS - Three days before the Jan. 24 Lecomte Stakes, Fred Aime had a situation.
Aime is the agent for jockey Shane Sellers. Sellers had started riding for Steve Asmussen, who had a horse for the Lecomte that Aime might have landed. Dangling was the mount on Fire Slam, whom Sellers had ridden to a second-place finish in the $1 million Delta Jackpot. But Fire Slam had come up with an ugly quarter crack on his hind hoof. It was Wednesday, and the colt's status for the Lecomte looked tenuous.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Master David, who would have been one of the choices for next Saturday's $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, will not be coming for the race due to illness, trainer Bobby Frankel confirmed Friday.
"He had a temperature of 102 [Thursday]," Frankel said. "He has a high normal white blood count. I think we'll be all right in a few days.''
NEW ORLEANS - Pollard's Vision could sneak up on some people Sunday in the Louisiana Derby. That said, some people could sneak up on Pollard's Vision.
The horse's name tells his story. Red Pollard was Seabiscuit's jockey, a job made extra difficult by his lack of sight in one eye. Pollard's Vision has no vision in his right eye, though his trainer, Todd Pletcher, does not view the condition as a major impediment.
"He was supposedly born that way," Pletcher said. "He's been pretty straightforward, really. The only time it seemed to bother him was in his first start."
