PHOENIX - The $150,000 purse of Saturday's Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup Handicap - the marquee race of the meet - has attracted some big fish from other ponds, including Irish Warrior, the fourth-place finisher in the Breeders' Cup Mile.
A 1 1/16-mile turf race, the Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup is one of three races on a card that also includes the $100,000 Turf Paradise Derby and the $75,000 Arizona Oaks.
PHOENIX - For most of its existence, the Turf Paradise Derby was not known as a race that produced top-class 3-year-olds. How times have changed.
Startac, the 2001 winner, made it to the Kentucky Derby, running 10th, and went on to become a Grade 1 winner on turf. Captain Squire, winner of the 2002 Turf Paradise Derby, turned into a graded-stakes sprinter. The one-two finishers from last year's Turf Paradise Derby, Robledo and Siberland, were headed in the direction of Louisville, Ky., until injuries derailed them.
Arlington Park tweaked its stakes schedule for 2004, but there are no major stakes changes at Chicago's premier Thoroughbred venue.
Arlington will offer 27 stakes worth $5,625,000 during a 96-day meet that begins May 14 and ends Sept. 19. As always, the meet highlight is the Arlington Million, scheduled this year for Saturday, Aug. 14, and presented with the $400,000 Secretariat and the $750,000 Beverly D., all Grade 1 turf races. The Beverly D. received a $50,000 purse hike for 2004.
This is a good time to have a Louisiana-bred racehorse - Saturday night in particular. That is when Delta Downs, with slots-boosted purses still flowing freely, hosts Louisiana Premier Night, 10 races for statebreds worth a total of $1 million.
Featured on the card is the $200,000 Premier Night Championship, which drew seven of the best Louisiana-bred route horses in training. Spritely Walker is the favorite, but has lost both of his starts at Delta, and should get stiff competition from Mr. Archibald and Prince Slew.
Toby's Success, a new player in the Louisiana-bred sprint division, will make his stakes debut Saturday night against the accomplished Zarb's Luck in the $100,000 Louisiana Premier Night Sprint. The five-furlong race is one of 10 stakes worth a cumulative $1 million at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.
AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs has released a list of 36 stakes, worth a total of $2,070,000 in purse money, to be run at its 2004 meeting, which runs 89 days from April 16 through Sept. 20.
The schedule is highlighted as usual by the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile, which will be run for the 69th time Aug. 22.
PHOENIX - Apparently the combatants in the Jan. 17 Sun Devil at Turf Paradise didn't feel anything was resolved. So, four of the first five finishers are back for more in Saturday's $75,000 Arizona Oaks, a race that kicks off a stakes tripleheader here. The Oaks goes as race 6, followed by the Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup Handicap (race 7) and the Turf Paradise Derby (race 8).
Seven will run in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies, and four are quite familiar with one another.
SUNLAND PARK, N. M. - The breakdown of This Cat's for You in the Jan. 10 Winsham Lad Handicap left a gaping hole in the older male division here, and that absence is reflected in the wide-open look of the field for Saturday's $50,000-added Curribot Handicap at 1 1/16 miles.
The ever-present stable of Steve Asmussen will be represented by Tempered Appeal, a 7-year-old who raced primarily at Woodbine in 2003.
ALBANY, Calif. - The last two runnings of the Tanforan Handicap attracted good horses such as Decarchy, Seinne, and Sligo Bay. There are no such stars in Saturday's $75,000 Tanforan, but the 1 1/16-mile turf race attracted a solid field of 11 horses that could make for a real dilemma for handicappers.
Five enter the race off a victory. Three others ran second in their last start while coming off wins.
There are speed horses and horse-for-course types. There are two graded winners and two others who have placed in graded races.