LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Racetrack backstretches are not regular hot spots for gubernatorial candidates, certainly not on election day.
But early Tuesday morning Ben Chandler, Democratic candidate to become Kentucky's next governor, was out on the Churchill Downs backside, shaking hands with horsemen and spending time with trainer Nick Zito and Lexington horse owner Tracy Farmer.
Backstretch, LLC, a private company owned by the Choctaw tribe of Oklahoma, has purchased Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw from Race Horses Inc. The track was to be auctioned Tuesday, but Race Horses cleared a $3 million debt with the city of Sallisaw on Monday and then sold Blue Ribbon to the Choctaws for an undisclosed amount.
Heading the Blue Ribbon management team, according to a release put out by the Choctaws, will be Frank Deal, former general manager of Remington Park, and Blaine Story, a past president of the Oklahoma Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
MIAMI - Last year's inaugural Florida Millions was a success, and from the looks of the nominations this year, the second running could be even better.
Todd Pletcher, Allen Jerkens, Bill Mott, and Christophe Clement, all based in New York, are among the high-profile trainers who have nominated horses to one or more of the six stakes races on the Nov. 15 Florida Millions card. Their horses will face strong local opposition, including Florida Millions defending champions Best of the Rest and Tour of the Cat.
CHICAGO - He is 8, a bulky gray horse with a coat turning white from age and a Silky Sullivan stretch-running style. This fall his career trajectory has tilted upward once again, and Paddy's Spy could be a fan favorite, one of those revered old claimers, except that he has never been much of a winner. In 96 starts he has finished first 12 times and second 17, and in earlier years, his record made embarrassing stops at 5 for 40 and 6 for 58.
Jockey Lonnie Meche is running out of meet. The hottest rider at Louisiana Downs, Meche has won 22 races over the last two weeks, and at that kind of pace would seem to have the title within his grasp - if only the season was a little longer. Louisiana Downs will close Sunday.
Meche has won 82 races this meet to rank third in the standings behind Kirk LeBlanc, who has won 97. Gerard Melancon is second with 93. Meche ranks first in win-percentage, however, at 23.
"I've had a great meet," said Meche, 29. "It's really picked up toward the end."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Willow Bunch got going too late to make a serious impact in the 3-year-old Canadian-bred filly division this year, but she could turn out to be the best of her lot.
Willow Bunch, who made her first career start July 2 at Woodbine, recorded her fourth consecutive win in last Sunday's $171,300 Jammed Lovely, a seven-furlong race for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Unless you're among the elite riders whose services are in demand, you can forget about spending the winter at Gulfstream or the spring at Belmont - difficult places for an unproven jockey to find live mounts.
That explains why Richard Monterrey, a 19-year-old apprentice from Venezuela, struggled mightily upon his arrival in the United States.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With the single-season earnings record secured last Friday, trainer Bobby Frankel will spend the next seven weeks trying to make the record more difficult to break.
Through Sunday, Frankel's runners had earned $17,874,877 this year. On Friday, Frankel broke the previous mark of $17,842,358, set in 1988 by fellow Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
A win by Golden Rahy in an optional claimer at Santa Anita pushed Frankel past Lukas. Frankel entered the day with stable earnings of $17,826,077. Golden Rahy's win was worth $28,800.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Doug O'Neill needs one victory this week at Santa Anita to break Bob Baffert's record for most wins at the brief Oak Tree meeting.
Baffert recorded 21 wins in 1998 and 1999, a number O'Neill equaled last Friday.
Wednesday, O'Neill has two chances to reach 22 wins when Spirited starts in the second race and Long Gone Con starts in the fifth.
"I think either one of those horses has a chance to win," O'Neill said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - While Najran and Ethan Man were dueling on the lead a month ago in the Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland, another little duel was taking place in the back of the pack.
Beau's Town, the odds-on favorite, was engaged in some hit-and-run action with Great Notion and Strength and Honor, crowding and bumping them for much of the backstretch run.
"He bumped my horse three separate times and came in on us pretty good," said Chuck Simon, trainer of Strength and Honor.