OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With the exception of the timing of the $200,000 Gotham, the 2004 Aqueduct winter-spring stakes program mirrors the 2003 schedule.
A total of 34 stakes worth $4.4 million will be offered during the 87 racing days from Jan. 1 through May 2. The only Grade 1 events offered during that period will be the $750,000 Wood Memorial, a major prep for the Kentucky Derby, and the $350,000 Carter Handicap for older male sprinters. Both races are scheduled for April 10.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Catchme-inyourdreams will try to take a major step toward becoming the 2003 world champion Quarter Horse when he starts in the Grade 1, $300,000 MBNA America Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos on Saturday night.
The 440-yard Challenge Champion-ship for older sprinters headlines the five Grade 1 races that make up the MBNA America Challenge Championships. Horses qualified for these five Grade 1 races through regional races.
Patton's Victory is ahead of schedule in his training, and as a result will make his comeback from a summer layoff earlier than expected in the $30,000 Woodlands Handicap at the Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday.
The 1 1/16-mile race is one of five stakes on the closing day card, with three of the races for Quarter Horses.
Trainer Wilson Brown almost always comes up with a good 2-year-old during the Remington Park meet. His latest "discovery" is Aspen Gal, who will be shooting for her third straight stakes win Saturday night in the $35,000 Cimarron.
Brown won the race last year with the filly Tulupai, who, along with Mister Deville and It'sallinthechase, are among the top young horses the trainer has raced at Remington.
Skate Away and Dash for Daylight, who have been hooking top Louisiana Downs turf horse Warleigh, won't have to face that rival Saturday night when they meet in the $35,000 Buffalo Bayou, a 1 1/16-mile grass race at Sam Houston Race Park.
Skate Away won the $125,000 DeBartolo Memorial at Remington on Sept. 1, and last out finished second to Warleigh in the $40,000 Alliance Handicap. Ted Gondron has the mount for trainer Jeff Trosclair.
* There are five Quarter Horse stakes at Lone Star Park on Saturday night, including the 100-yard Gridiron Gallop.
The Nebraska State Racing Commission gave final approval for a 2004 live race schedule of 103 days at its meeting in Lincoln on Wednesday afternoon.
The only shift in the schedule from 2003 will be at Horsemen's Atokad Downs. The track's two-day meet will move from July to September, when it will close out the 2004 Nebraska racing season.
Vogue Girl, unbeaten in her first two starts, both sprints, moves up in class and stretches out to a mile for Saturday's $100,000 Blue Hen Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.
Trainer Allen Iwinski said he is confident that Vogue Girl, a daughter of Souvenir Copy, will handle the extra distance, based on her pedigree and a report jockey Ramon Dominguez gave him after her last race.
"Her family all could stretch out," Iwinski said. "Her half-brother, Scrimshaw, could not do a mile and a quarter, but he certainly could handle a mile and a sixteenth."
Richetta, an easy winner of the Maryland Million Lassie in her most recent start, towers over the five other 2-year-old fillies entered in Saturday's $60,000 Heavenly Cause, a seven-furlong race for Maryland-breds at Laurel Park.
Trained by Robin Graham, Richetta is the only runner in the field with more than a maiden victory and the lone filly with stakes experience. She cruised to a 4 1/2-length victory over nine rivals, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 78, in the seven-furlong Maryland Million Lassie on Oct. 11.
CHICAGO - Chris Block has done enough talking about Mystery Giver. For Saturday's Grade 3 Robert Carey Memorial Handicap, he is taking a different approach.
"This time, I'm going to let the horse do the talking," said Block, who trains Mystery Giver. "I've talked about him till I'm blue in the face."