PHOENIX - Centerofattention was true to her name when she shipped to Turf Paradise in May and won the Sun City Handicap at a mile on the turf.
She looks to duplicate that feat when she lines up against 11 other fillies and mares in Saturday's $50,000 Queen of the Green Handicap. The distance is the same as the Sun City - a mile on the turf - and Centerofattention comes in as the 121-pound highweight and with big expectations.
Questionable Past, who has not been tested in three starts on dirt, will take on two Steve Asmussen-trained fillies in the $35,000 Miss Houston Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park on Saturday night. The seven-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies drew six, including leading contenders Bigtimeaffair and Rare Glitter, both of whom are trained by Asmussen.
Questionable Past has won three of her four starts, with her lone defeat coming in a two-turn turf race in her debut in August. After that start, she stormed to a 9 1/2-length maiden win over 5 1/2 furlongs at Retama.
This week marks a period of transition at Hawthorne Race Course near Chicago. Fans have enjoyed a steady diet of six-figure stakes during six of the first eight weekends of the meet, but the pickings start to get slim as winter approaches. In fact, no stakes, overnight or otherwise, are scheduled this weekend.
Saturday's 6 1/2-furlong feature, a $32,000 three-other-than allowance with a $35,000 claiming option, has attracted a solid field and showcases a rematch between two 4-year-old geldings who were separated by a head in their only other encounter.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - In a recent debate on a Toronto sports radio show, golfer Mike Weir, who won the Masters, was the general consensus choice to win the Lou Marsh Award as the 2003 Canadian Athlete of the Year over Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Eric Gagne, even though the Los Angeles Dodgers' reliever would be a more deserving winner because he was deemed to be the best at what he does.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After taking a shot in the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes, Fait Accompli drops back into New York-bred company Friday when she heads an eight-horse field in a $44,000 entry-level allowance race restricted to 2-year-old statebred fillies at Aqueduct.
Fait Accompli, a daughter of Louis Quatorze, beat statebreds on opening day of the Belmont fall meet, her second career start. She ran back in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes, where she was beaten nine lengths while finishing second to Capeside Lady.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The last time Churchill Downs hosted a second-level turf allowance for older horses, pretty much everyone came to the party.
In fact, the margin from first to eighth was barely more than two lengths in that Nov. 1 race, illustrating just how well matched the Kentucky grass horses happen to be in that prevailing two-other-than category. So when the $50,000 feature is run under similar conditions Friday at Churchill, it should come as little surprise if both the wagering and results are as scrambled as what occurred nearly three weeks ago.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the weeks since Gold Sphinx won an allowance race on the undercard of the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita on Oct. 25, trainer Gary Mandella has become more enthusiastic about the performance.
His opinion is based not only on Gold Sphinx's 1 1/2-length win, but subsequent victories by second- and third-place finishers Six Numbers and Rock n Rosh, as well.
Gold Sphinx, a 4-year-old Storm Cat colt, returns in a $46,000 allowance race over 1 1/16 miles on turf Friday at Hollywood Park, a race that could lead to a stakes this winter for him.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Lakota Road and Merrigoldround will square off in Friday's top race at Portland Meadows, a six-furlong sprint for $2,500 fillies and mares that has drawn a full field of 12.
Lakota Road tuned up for Friday's race, the sixth on a nine-race card, with a second to Rated Up Blue in a 4 1/2-furlong sprint for similar company here on Nov. 7, when she was beaten two lengths in a race that was run in 55.70 seconds. That was her first start since January, and she seems certain to benefit from the effort.
Representatives of Maryland's horsemen and officials of the Maryland Jockey Club worked out a deal on Wednesday to keep the stable area at Pimlico Race Course open during the winter, officials said late Wednesday.
Under the deal, Pimlico has agreed to keep the stable area open in exchange for the horsemen's vow to drop its plan to revoke approval for simulcasts. The horsemen also promised to support the MJC's effort to obtain approval for slots machines at its tracks in Maryland, according to a Pimlico racing official.
The Churchill Downs Simulcast Network and the Southern Racing Cooperative reached an agreement late Wednesday over simulcast rates, and as a result the Churchill-controlled signals of Churchill Downs, Hollywood Park, Calder Race Course, and Hoosier Park were to be restored to the cooperative tracks on Thursday.
"Both parties really wanted this over, and that forced us together to find a resolution, and we found one today," said Bobby Geiger, spokesperson for the cooperative.