ELMONT, N.Y. - Summer Colony, the Grade 1-winning mare who handed Azeri her only loss in 2002, has been retired. She was shipped to owner Edward Evans's Spring Hill Farm in Casanova, Va., on Thursday and will be bred to Gone West next year.
Summer Colony, a 5-year-old daughter of Summer Squall, retires with a record of 10 wins, 5 seconds, and 1 third from 24 career starts. She earned $1,448,930.
MIAMI - French Village is undefeated and will be seeking to become only the second filly in 22 years to sweep all three legs of the female division of the Florida Stallion Stakes. Yet despite all she has accomplished, French Village may not even be favored when she goes postward against eight other juvenile fillies in Saturday's $400,000 My Dear Girl Stakes at Calder.
Track linemaker Chuck Streva, after much thought, established Chatter Chatter as the slight morning-line favorite for the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl.
MIAMI - Saturday's Festival of the Sun program at Calder was highly attractive to jockey Jerry Bailey, who is seeking to eclipse the single-season record for stakes victories held by Mike Smith.
Bailey is named to ride in seven of the eight stakes on the card and is in position to have a banner day, as he is listed on the likely first or second choices with all seven of those mounts. None of them should have an easier time getting Bailey closer to Smith's mark than Stroll, who looks unbeatable in the $200,000 Calder Derby.
MIAMI - Eddie Plesa Jr. has trained a laundry list of stakes winners throughout his career. But none has given him more pleasure or satisfaction than Best of the Rest, the fragile but extremely talented veteran who will make his long-awaited return to action as the starting highweight and favorite in Saturday's $100,000 Spend a Buck Handicap.
The Spend a Buck is one of four stakes that make up the undercard on the $1.5 million Festival of the Sun program at Calder.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Affluent, a winner of six graded stakes and a millionaire for owner-breeder Jan Whitham, has been retired, trainer Ron McAnally said Thursday.
Affluent made her final start in the Grade 2 A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park on July 13, finishing third. Her final stakes win was the Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap at Santa Anita in January, which marked the third consecutive year in which she won a Grade 1 race.
There have been a lot of firsts in the last year at Louisiana Downs. Harrah's Entertainment bought the track in December. The company installed 905 slot machines in May, and on Saturday, it will present a made-over Louisiana Breeders' Festival.
Held over two days in the past, the Festival, made up of 12 statebred stakes worth $620,000, will be run on a single program this year. The change makes the program the second-richest of the meet behind Super Derby Day.
Trainer Glenn Delahoussaye is quick to deflect all credit for Cabildo Bag's perfect record. Cabildo Bag, who will shoot for her third straight stakes win in the $50,000 Laurel Lane at Louisiana Downs on Saturday, is one of the top 2-year-olds at Louisiana Downs.
Cabildo Bag won her maiden against statebreds on opening weekend, then stepped up and beat open company in the $50,000 Rebel five weeks later. Cabildo Bag then defeated male rivals in the $50,000 Lafayette at her home track of Evangeline Downs.
PHOENIX - What counts more, current form or past class?
That's the question Saturday's Caballas del Sol Handicap, the six-furlong feature at Turf Paradise, poses for handicappers.
The razor-sharp Dan's Groovy takes on several runners with back class, including Top Hit, Bristolville, Komax, and NoCal Bread, in a field of nine. Toss in Kolinor, who had a smart prep race; Duddly Doo Run, runner-up in the Bienvenidos here opening week; and sharp Canterbury shipper Montana Rush, and you have the makings of one tough race.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Last month's 1 1/16-mile Carmel Handicap on grass could be a key indicator of what to expect in Saturday's $60,000-added Palo Alto Handicap on the main track at Bay Meadows.
Three of the eight 3-year-old fillies running in Saturday's one-mile stakes ran in the Carmel. Frisco Belle finished second, Calldara seventh, and Watch Out World eighth. Calldara and Watch Out World will appreciate the return to the main track, while Frisco Belle scored her only main-track victories here.