OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After running Spooky Mulder four times in 44 days, trainer Scott Lake was planning to give his gelding some time off. Last Sunday, Lake received a call from the Aqueduct racing office, seeking help to fill a classified allowance race on Wednesday.
Now, Spooky Mulder's vacation will have to wait.
Wednesday, Spooky Mulder rolled to a 3 1/2-length victory in that allowance race under Julian Pimentel, and the effort earned him a spot in the $75,000 Paumonok Handicap on Jan. 24.
ALBANY, Calif. - Five runners looking to improve their standing in the hierarchy of 3-year-olds take their first test of the yearin Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Golden Gate Derby at Golden Gate Fields.
Skipaslew, the probable favorite, just won the Gold Rush Stakes here and earlier won the Gateway to Glory at Fairplex. He is the lone entrant to have won or even run at Saturday's 1 1/16-mile distance.
Lyracist is one horse who seems to run best when the temperature takes a sharp dip. A forecast that calls for temperatures below freezing and possible snow showers for Saturday ought to suit Lyracist just fine when he faces seven older horses in the $75,000 Native Dancer Stakes at Laurel Park.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Beulah Park is preparing for a head-to-head battle against Mother Nature when Ohio's oldest Thoroughbred track begins its 71-day winter-spring meeting on Saturday.
In a major change, Beulah's management has front-loaded its dates by going to a five-day, Friday-through-Tuesday schedule until mid-March. The track will then run four days a week for about three weeks and then switch to three days a week for the final three weeks of the meeting, which ends Kentucky Derby Day, May 1. First post is 1:15 p.m. Eastern throughout the meeting.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - No fewer than eight of the 14 horses entered in Saturday's $60,000 Sandpiper Stakes come into the race off a win. But Atti Girl Fergie, a hard-luck second in her most recent start, may have a lot to say about the outcome of the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies. According to trainer Kathleen O'Connell, Atti Girl Fergie could well be going after her third straight win on Saturday were it not for some bad racing luck.
PHOENIX - When No Turbulence finished third last year in the Kachina Handicap at Turf Paradise, she may have been feeling the effects of her previous start, when she was shipped to Sunland Park and back. This year, No Turbulence has stayed home, and her consistently sharp form makes her the one to beat in Saturday's $40,000 Kachina, a mile event for fillies and mares that has drawn a field of eight.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Saturday's $50,000-added Winsham Lad Handicap at one mile for 3-year-olds and up is a trainers' race. It pits Ramon Gonzalez, who has six Sunland titles, against Steve Asmussen, who in his first year stabled here has overtaken Gonzalez in the local standings despite having only 18 stalls.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Blackie Huffman is a no-nonsense trainer, the type who refuses to make excuses when his horses are beaten.
"If I got one, I keep it to myself," he said.
So horseplayers are on their own in their analysis of Emily Ring in Saturday's $50,000 Wishing Well Stakes at Turfway Park. She was far off her game at Turfway on Dec. 26, when she finished third at 3-10 odds in an allowance prep for the Wishing Well, but Huffman says she is doing well and is ready for another try.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Kiaran McLaughlin's fast start to the 2004 meeting should get even faster when he sends out Kathir against nine rivals in Friday's $40,000 allowance feature on the turf.
McLaughlin, who has spent the last 10 winters in Dubai, won two races on opening weekend, including the Appleton Handicap with Millennium Dragon. He also captured Calder's Grade 2 La Prevoyante Handicap the previous week with Volga.
