OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The horse-for-course handicapping angle has been a most profitable one at this meet, and could continue to reap benefits for its loyalists in Wednesday's $50,000 second-level allowance feature at Aqueduct.
The open-company allowance is the eighth of nine races on the card and is the penultimate leg of the pick six, which features a $127,104 carryover after no one hit it over the weekend.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ten years ago this November, Tony Reinstedler was the leading trainer at the Churchill Downs fall meet. Since then, his career has hit a number of highs and lows, but fortunately for him, this year definitely has been one of the highs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Brass in Pocket, a leading contender for the Sovereign Award as champion older filly or mare, will be favored in Wednesday's $130,750 Classy 'n Smart Stakes at Woodbine.
Six other Ontario-sired runners were entered in the 1 1/16-mile race: Spanish Decree, Kabul, Royal Dalliance, Roman Romance, Deputy Cures Blues, and Dancen in the Sun.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bobby Frankel is knocking off milestones this year as swiftly as the horses he trains run past the opposition. Frankel has won a record 23 Grade 1 races. His horses have earned a record $18 million. Yet the latest mark on which Frankel is closing in has taken more than 30 years to approach.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Dave Fortner, whose many years as the top assistant to Elliott Walden enabled him to work with such major stars as Victory Gallop and Menifee, has announced that he is opening a public stable, effective Jan. 1.
Fortner, 42, said his age was a major factor in the decision to begin his own stable, which initially will be based at Trackside in Louisville. "I didn't want to wake up some day with regrets about never trying," said Fortner.
CHICAGO - Dutchie's connections decided to skip the Hawthorne Oaks last Saturday and wait for an easier race - they didn't wait long.
Dutchie was one of 12 horses entered in Hawthorne's featured ninth race Wednesday, a second-level filly-and-mare allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Dutchie is an Illinois-bred with only two lifetime starts, but she has aroused interest by winning those starts and displaying obvious talent.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last Saturday's Display Stakes was billed as a Sovereign Award showdown between Smoocher and A Bit O'Gold, with the title of champion 2-year-old colt or gelding up for grabs.
But when the dust had cleared, it was Judiths Wild Rush, making his stakes debut, who routed his opponents in a 10-length victory.
Finishing the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:43.59, Judiths Wild Rush earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105, equaling the highest by any 2-year-old in North America this year.
ALBANY, Calif. - El Dorado Shooter is due to return to the track this week for the first time since undergoing surgery to remove a minor chip from an ankle last spring. The nominal sprint king of northern California, El Dorado Shooter holds the Golden Gate Fields track record at six furlongs (1:07.55) and was the Bay Meadows sprinter of the year for 2003.
But his crown does not rest easy.
He returns to what may be the deepest sprint division ever in northern California.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Comic Truth gave his connections a lot of firsts on Sunday when he stormed to a 10-length win over odds-on favorite Excessivepleasure in the Grade 3, $160,700 at Remington Park. It was another two and a quarter lengths back in third to Morning Merry.
Comic Truth's win was the first stakes victory for his trainer, Patrick Daly; the first graded win for his sire, Proudest Romeo; and the first Oklahoma Derby win for eight-time Remington riding champ Cliff Berry.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Foiled in three consecutive Grade 1 races, Victory U.S.A. ($2.40) responded to a drop in class Sunday at Hollywood Park, where she won the $100,000 by seven lengths. More important, the 2-year-old filly did it the way trainer Bob Baffert hoped, rallying from behind and looking like a genuine contender for the Grade 1, mile and a sixteenth Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 21.