LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The featured ninth race at Churchill Downs on Tuesday, an allowance for older horse at 1 1/16 miles, is officially named the Believe It. It might as well be called the Mini Clark.
A stakes-quality allowance race, it is a prep for the Grade 2, $500,000 Clark Handicap here Nov. 28. All eight starters are at least stakes-placed, and four - Crafty Shaw, Danthebluegrassman, Pass Rush, and Bonus Pack - are graded-stakes winners.
MIAMI - Trainer Ralph Ziadie reports that Hopeful winner Silver Wagon has returned to training after being sidelined due to a cough and respiratory infection that kept him out of the Grade 1 Champagne.
"He's back galloping, and I'll probably do a little something more serious with him next weekend," Ziadie said. "I don't have any races picked out for him at the moment. Perhaps there'll be an opportunity for me to run him at the end of this meet as a prep for the Fountain of Youth. If not I'll just train him into the Fountain of Youth."
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Live Doppler will be aiming for another upset Tuesday afternoon as the Thoroughbred meet at The Meadowlands heads into its final week.
The New Jersey racing season concludes Saturday night with a final post of 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
With time running out, turf opportunities have dwindled to a precious few, including Tuesday's $24,000 optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Awesome Humor and Yell have competed against virtually every top 3-year-old filly in North America. Between them, they have racked up six stakes wins and over $1.2 million. But they have never raced against each other, a curious truth that is scheduled to change Saturday in the $200,000 Churchill Downs Distaff, a Grade 2 handicap that highlights the coming weekend here.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If things had gone according to plan, Loving Kindness wouldn't be eligible for Tuesday's $65,000 Trampoli at Aqueduct, an overnight turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies who have not won a stakes race in 2003.
Since arriving from Dubai in the spring, Loving Kindness has encountered numerous setbacks. The Trampoli marks Loving Kindness' first start since Feb. 20, when she finished fifth behind Danuta in the Moonshell Mile at Nad al Sheba.
She has not faced strictly fillies since her debut race.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - There were few surprises on Halloween at The Meadowlands, as favorites or second choices won the three featured events Friday night.
Tangier Sound ($7.20) took the $40,000 Witches Brew, Gimmeawink ($5.80) prevailed in the $45,000 Paterson Stakes, and He Flies ($5.80) rallied to take the $25,000 Grey Ghost Starter Handicap.
Believe Im Special set a track record at Delta Downs on Friday night when he defended his title in the $40,000 Racino Inaugural, winning by a neck over Front Nine. The five-furlong race was the opening-night stakes at the Vinton, La., track, and Believe Im Special covered the distance in 57.53 seconds. He paid $35.80.
Joyful Tune dueled through the stretch with Believe Im Special and finished third, a half-length behind Front Nine. Ricky Faul rode the winner for the partnership of Davis, Davis, and Defrates and trainer Thomas Sam.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With two months remaining in the season, trainer Bobby Frankel established a single-season earnings record of $17,854,877 on Friday when Golden Rahy won an optional claimer at Santa Anita.
Frankel entered the day with stable earnings of $17,826,077. Gold-en Rahy's win was worth $28,800.
Frankel surpassed the previous mark of $17,842,358 set in 1988 by fellow Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Frankel almost broke Lukas's record last year when his stable earned $17,748,340.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A front-runner most of her career, Pocus Hocus demonstrated the ability to rate on Saturday and it led to the first stakes victory of her career in the Grade 3, $107,500 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Aqueduct.
Under Jose Santos, Pocus Hocus sat off the pace-setting Miss Linda until the five-sixteenths pole, then spurted away from the field in the stretch to win the Turnback the Alarm by 5 1/4 lengths. Nonsuch Bay rallied for second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Miss Linda.