HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Rain or shine, trainer Tim Hills should be smiling on Super Bowl Sunday. And not because Hills, a former New England resident, is a Patriots fan.
Hills has entered for the $60,000 Gaily Gaily Stakes at Gulfstream, a race for 3-year-old fillies scheduled at about 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Rain is in the forecast for the entire weekend and it seems likely the race will be switched to the main track. But a change in venue would prove no problem for Vous.
NEW ORLEANS - Six months ago, Spanish Empire was a struggling entry-level allowance horse at Saratoga. Sunday, he's the favorite in the $100,000 Whirlaway Handicap at Fair Grounds. One more win, and will look like legitimate New Orleans Handicap material.
Nine horses were entered in the Whirlaway, a Grade 3 at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. The stakes is the eighth of nine races on a card that begins early, at 11:30 a.m. Central, because of the Super Bowl.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Rogue Agent came out of his bang-up race in the Aqueduct Handicap a little worse for the wear, but the gelding quickly rebounded and is now being pointed to the $100,000 John B. Campbell Handicap at Laurel Park on Feb. 14.
Rogue Agent, who was 30-1 in the Grade 3 Aqueduct Handicap on Jan. 17, set the pace and gave way grudgingly in the final yards to finish third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Seattle Fitz and Evening Attire, who finished noses apart.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Crafty Shaw, whose goal this season is to reach $1 million in earnings, will make his debut as a 6-year-old on Sunday in a one-mile allowance that will serve as his stepping-stone to the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 3.
The $40,000 allowance, which will go as the ninth on a 10-race card that has a special post of 1 p.m. Central, drew a field of five older horses. It should produce starters for the Grade 3, $100,000 Essex Handicap on Feb. 21. Others in the race are Maysville Slew, Missme, Smileyberg, and Docent.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Over the next two months, owner Gerald Ford and trainer Richard Mandella are out to prove that Pleasantly Perfect's victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic was not a fluke. begins his season in Saturday's $250,000 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita, and a win or a strong placing would move him closer to starting in two important races in March - the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 6 and the $6 million Dubai World Cup in the Middle East on March 27.
"That's a full plate," Ford said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A year after winning his first San Antonio Handicap, Congaree will defend the title in the familiar surroundings of his home track Saturday at Santa Anita.
Congaree again will carry high weight in the San Antonio, is expected to go favored, and will have little company on the lead.
The opposition is led by Pleasantly Perfect, a closer who upset the Breeders' Cup Classic at 14-1 last October. The San Antonio is his first start since then.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Last Thanksgiving, Jon Court chose to ride the longshot Fleetstreet Dancer in the $2.3 million Japan Cup Dirt at Tokyo Race Course instead of staying at Churchill Downs, where he is based most of the year.
"The opportunity to go to Japan was such an honor," Court said.
Court, 43, was not just playing tourist. He rode Fleetstreet Dancer to a 48-1 upset in the 16-horse Japan Cup Dirt, the richest victory in Court's career.
NEW ORLEANS - Just after training hours Thursday morning, a long head poked through the doorway and into trainer Richie Scherer's Fair Grounds barn office. Ears forward, eyes imploring, Mystery Giver was cooling out from his morning exercise - and he was ready for his peppermint.
In his craving for sweets, the 6-year-old Mystery Giver is ultra-reliable. Scherer would like a better line, however, on how Mystery Giver will run Saturday in the $125,000 Fair Grounds Breeders' Cup Handicap.
NEW ORLEANS - The taste of success still lingers, but now it is time for Neil Howard's barn to move forward. Less than a week after Mineshaft was named Horse of the Year, Political Risk will make his graded stakes debut Sunday in the Grade 3 Whirlaway Handicap at Fair Grounds.
Russell Baze, northern California's leading jockey, scored a three-length victory aboard Proud N Perfect in Thursday's second race at Golden Gate Fields. The victory was his first since he suffered a displaced fracture of his collarbone on Nov. 30.
Baze was winless from four mounts when he returned to riding Wednesday.
Despite missing the last month of the year, Baze rode 410 winners in 2003, finishing second among North American jockeys. It was the 11th year in the past 12 that Baze had 400 or more victories. Baze stands fourth among all jockeys in career victories.
