INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Think you can't have too much of a good thing? Think again.
Southern California racing lately has been plagued by short fields, but there are so many 3-year-olds being considered for Sunday's Grade 1, $600,000 Hollywood Derby that several horses might be excluded from the field.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Heading into the 2002 season, Affirmed Feeling was seen as a potential Queen's Plate horse.
Owned and bred by Ivan Dalos and trained by David Bell, Affirmed Feeling had closed out his juvenile campaign with a rallying third-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile Coronation Futurity, looking like the sort who would thrive at the Plate's 1 1/4-mile distance.
Affirmed Feeling did end up racing on Queen's Plate Day, but his appearance came about 40 minutes after the feature, in a 1 1/8-mile maiden race where he finished seventh.
ALBANY, Calif. - Miss Bridget Jones, who will be making her first start since finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks in June, will vie for favoritism with Devil Dancing in Golden Gate Fields' Thanksgiving feature, a six-furlong, $80,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - One for Rose, a nominee to Friday's Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct, will run instead in Thursday's seventh race at Woodbine, an $86,400 allowance for fillies and mares.
The 1 1/16-mile race is limited to nonwinners of $53,400 twice other than maiden, claiming, or restricted allowance, at a mile or longer, since Sept. 1. One for Rose fits the conditions beautifully - and barely - because she earned $51,840 in her Oct. 11 allowance triumph, a prep for the 1 1/4-mile Maple Leaf Stakes, a race she won by 6 1/4 lengths with a 110 Beyer Speed Figure.
MIAMI - Mike Gill burst upon the local racing scene amidst a claiming frenzy during the tail end of the 2002 Tropical meet at Calder. But barring a change in plans, his tumultuous one-year stay in south Florida ended earlier this week when the last of his stable shipped out of town.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel abruptly canceled plans to run two of his stable stars, Sightseek and Medaglia d'Oro, in rich handicaps at Churchill Downs this week, saying he believed both horses were assigned excessive weight.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With six graded stakes over three days, this weekend's Autumn Turf Festival at Hollywood Park is shaping up as the highlight of the fall season. The races by and large have big fields with top-class horses, most notably Sunday's Grade 1, $500,000 Matriarch Stakes, which is finding its new one-mile distance to be extremely popular.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Just in time for the holiday shopping season, horseplayers can line their pockets with plenty of good cheer Wednesday, with a pick six carryover of $179,241 up for grabs at Aqueduct.
The featured third-level allowance race, over 1 1/16 miles on the turf, is one of the more difficult parts of the pick-six sequence (races 4 through 9). Seven of the 11 fillies and mares entered for the turf are New York-breds taking advantage of the restricted clause written into the conditions. The field will be limited to 10 starters.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If, as it appears, Savoy Special has put his gate problems behind him, he could be ready to step up and be the next stakes star in Todd Pletcher's barn.
Savoy Special, who has never been worse than third in eight career starts, will make his stakes debut in Thursday's Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct. The Fall Highweight kicks off HolidayFest, Aqueduct's final meaningful weekend of the year, highlighted by Saturday's Grade 1 Cigar Mile.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - All of a sudden, Saint Waki knows how to win. After starting his career with 13 losses, the colt will be one of the favorites Wednesday to win for a third straight time.
With Pat Day scheduled to ride again, Saint Waki is one of nine 3-year-olds and up set to clash in the eighth-race feature, a $48,800 second-level allowance.
