Despite a projected purse shortfall of $2 million this year in Maryland, Pimlico Race Course has kept most of its spring stakes schedule intact.
The Baltimore track will run 26 stakes worth $3,825,000. At last year's spring meet, $4,335,000 was allocated for 27 stakes.
The lone casualty is the Joe Aitcheson, a Grade 1 steeplechase worth $100,000 that was canceled last spring because of excessive rain.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Eric Kruljac isn't shy about the reason he's sending Talk Me Again to Golden Gate Fields for Saturday's $55,000-added Richmond Handicap.
"We're trying to get her a win in a North American stakes," he said.
Talk Me Again, a 6-year-old Argentine-bred mare, is a Group 1 winner in her native land. In her last start in Argentina, she was second to males, losing by a nose "in Argentina's equivalent to the Breeders' Cup Sprint," according to Kruljac.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Having won the six furlong Lassie Stakes here in November, Quiz the Maid was a logical candidate to win what looked to be a highly competitive renewal of the six-furlong Ms. Stakes on Saturday. So it wasn't a surprise that she got up in time to score again.
The surprise was that she drew off to win by more than seven lengths over Kya Jo, the more-fancied half of a Jonathan Nance-trained entry that was favored at 9-5.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Rick Violette walked over to the stall of Read the Footnotes, but there was caution in his voice. "Somebody," he warned, "is going to donate a finger to him one of these days." As if on cue, Read the Footnotes lashed out toward his trainer as if he were performing a scene in "Silence of the Lambs."
On Saturday, the high-strung colt will try to take a big bite out of Saturday's $250,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes, his first step this year toward the Kentucky Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Christophe Clement liked the chances of Group 1 winner Meridiana heading into the Grade 2 Long Island Handicap in her 2003 finale, but he came away scratching his head after she finished far back.
returns against allowance competition on Thursday at Gulfstream Park in the $40,000 turf feature and Clement again expects good things from this talented filly who has yet to show her best form since coming to the U.S. last summer.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Christine's Outlaw began his career 13 months ago with an 11-length victory at Gulfstream Park that immediately made him a 3-year-old to watch in 2003. He subsequently won just one of his next nine starts,
and never ranked among the elite of his generation, though he did finish third in the Arkansas Derby and was second in both the Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware Park and the Long Branch Breeders' Cup Handicap at Monmouth.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Following his fourth-place comeback Sunday in the Sham Stakes, Action This Day may now target the San Felipe Stakes on March 14. Action This Day rallied from last to fourth in the Sham, and was beaten 1 1/4 lengths in his first start since winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Oct. 25.
"He ran nice, and it should take him a big step forward," said trainer Richard Mandella. "My main concern was that he'd be fresh, hook up with the leaders, and die on the vine. I didn't want that. I'll think very seriously about the San Felipe, then the Santa Anita Derby."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jolie Rafaela exceeded expectations in her North American debut on Jan. 11 when she finished third in a turf sprint. An import from Brazil, was 10-1 in that second-condition allowance, finished well, and was beaten only 1 1/2 lengths by Any for Love, who returned to win her next start.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Bossanova, the gate-to-wire winner of last November's Fall Highweight Handicap, arrived in New York from Florida on Tuesday morning and will make his seasonal debut in Sunday's $75,000 Hollie Hughes Handicap at Aqueduct, trainer James Bond confirmed.
