Representatives of Mountaineer Park and its horsemen reached an agreement on Saturday on a three-year purse contract, ending a dispute that cost the track four days of live racing.
The new agreement calls for 228 days of live racing in 2004, according to the track and horsemen. Horsemen were seeking 232 live racing dates, and the track was attempting to run 210 live racing days.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A pick six carryover of $270,411 adds spice to an otherwise ordinary Wednesday card at Aqueduct.
With questionable favorites, full fields, and falling temperatures, the degree of difficulty seems high for hitting the pick six, which could have a pool exceeding $700,000.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If entries for Saturday's Aqueduct Handicap had been taken Monday, Evening Attire's name would not have passed through the entry box.
Trainer Pat Kelly and part owner Joseph Grant were not happy about Evening Attire's 122-pound weight assignment for the Grade 3, $100,000 Aqueduct and are inclined to keep him out of the nine-furlong race. Of course, they have until Thursday to change their minds.
ALBANY, Calif. - Merv Griffin, the creator of the game show "Jeopardy," hasn't even reached "double jeopardy" yet, but after his Skipaslew won the Grade 3 Golden Gate Derby on Saturday, he proclaimed, "We're on the path!"
It's the time of year for owners of stakes-winning 3-year-olds to dream of roses and the first Saturday in May in Kentucky.
Trainer Doug O'Neill is a bit more realistic, perhaps because Skipaslew may not be the best 3-year-old in his barn.
ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields offers a race program Wednesday that looks more like a weekend card than a midweek one.
The feature is a $50,000 optional claiming sprint that includes four American stakes winners - one of them, Debonair Joe, a Grade 1 winner. And those four could simply be running for second money.
Also on the card, Smoke Till Dawn will make his first start since he set a track record for six furlongs, and Mazurka Danzer, a half-brother to Kentucky Derby runner-up Cavonnier, makes his debut in a split of a 3-year-old maiden race.
Sunland Park, N.M.- The $50,000-added Winsham Lad Handicap turned sour as favored This Cat's for You broke down on the far turn while racing on the lead.
Streak of Royalty, ridden by Ricardo Jaime, inherited the lead after the breakdown and held off the late bid of Komax to win the mile race in near-track record time of 1:35.56.
The two horses who made up the uncoupled entry from the barn of Steve Asmussen, Easyfromthegitgo and Compendium, both ran lackluster races, finishing seventh and eighth.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Hosco continues to defy expectations. A former maiden claimer, Hosco won his stakes debut in Sunday's $108,100 at Santa Anita, leading throughout to score a one-length victory in the sprint.
The victory left owners Rod and Lorraine Rodriguez and trainer Doug O'Neill wondering if Hosco can be effective in longer races in coming months.
"He doesn't act like a horse that wants to go two turns, but before he ran he didn't act like a horse that would win three in a row," O'Neill said.
NEW ORLEANS - When the owner Michael Cooper and trainer Wes Hawley stepped up and claimed Aloha Bold for $75,000 last Jan. 31, they hoped for a stakes horse. Nearly a year later, they got one, as Aloha Bold won the $60,000 Handicap by a length over Ole Rebel on Sunday at Fair Grounds.
But this hardly was the path Cooper and Hawley had plotted. Before Aloha Bold started even once for them, he came back from a workout with a fractured knee.
"The vet told me he'd never race again," Hawley said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Harmony Lodge successfully defended her title in the $100,000 with a 1 3/4 length victory over House Party at a blustery Gulfstream Park on Sunday. The final margin was exactly the same as when she defeated Fly Me Crazy to capture the 2003 The First Lady.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the last year, During has found a niche competing in races that did not feature the top horses from his age group.
The campaign strategy may end after During's gritty win in Saturday's $221,800 for 4-year-olds at Santa Anita, his fourth stakes win.
In posting a one-length win, During showed remarkable determination that will make it easier for owner Jim McIngvale and trainer Bob Baffert to consider more difficult races.
