BOSSIER CITY, La. - Walk in the Snow, a top Louisiana-bred who was noticeably absent during last Saturday's Breeders' Festival Louisiana Downs, will not return to competition until next year, said his trainer, Herman Taylor.
Walk in the Snow was preparing for a start in the $75,000 Shiskabob when he was found to have a bone chip in his right knee. He recently had minor surgery, and is recuperating at Taylor's farm in Louisiana.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Strut the Stage, the main local hopeful for the $1.5 million Canadian International, and Baie, who relocated at Woodbine last month to prepare for the $750,000 E.P. Taylor, both breezed five furlongs on the turf course Tuesday.
The 1 1/2-mile Canadian International and the 1 1/4-mile E.P. Taylor, both Grade 1 turf races, will be run here Sunday. The International is for 3-year-olds and up, the Taylor for fillies and mares.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Anziyan Royalty, beaten by 20 lengths the only time he raced on grass, gets a second chance at the surface Thursday at Santa Anita. The lightly raced 3-year-old meets a modest field of California-breds in the one-other-than allowance that goes as the seventh race on the card.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Tenpins never really had much of a chance to make the Breeders' Cup Classic at Arlington Park last fall. The Michigan-bred star suffered a minor lung infection several weeks before the race and "we didn't want to make a wrong decision," said his trainer, Don Winfree.
But this fall, with Tenpins in good form and excellent health, the opportunity seemed ripe to try the $4 million Classic at Santa Anita, especially with the defections of such stars as Mineshaft, Candy Ride, and Empire Maker.
Jockey Hoogie Drexler had a big holiday weekend at Turf Paradise, winning with six straight mounts that included five consecutive races.
Drexler began his roll Sunday, winning with his only two mounts, Lady Mountbatten ($4.40) in the fifth race and Papila ($11.40) in the ninth and final race of the day. He then won Monday's first four races, with Iseeyoubaby ($4.80), Irvington ($6.60), Sheza Gladiator ($4.40) and Sir Rubi ($8.20).
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Beau's Town, who will be forced to miss the Breeders' Cup Sprint because of injury, will probably make his comeback in late February or early March, said his Louisiana Downs-based trainer, Cole Norman.
Beau's Town had a small bone chip removed from an ankle last Wednesday at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. He likely suffered the injury in the Grade 3 Phoenix on Oct. 3, when he stumbled at the start and finished eighth as the favorite in the race that was to be his final stop before the Sprint.
CHICAGO - By Eddie Martin's reckoning, he has ridden at 30 racetracks this season. The actual number is 19, but at some point you lose count. Martin's year began at Fair Grounds before he moved on to Lone Star and, later in the summer, Delaware.
"Delaware's ancient history," Martin said Monday afternoon. "We're a permanent fixture at Hawthorne right now."
MIAMI - If trainers Manny Azpurua and Marty Wolfson stick to their plans, Sir Oscar and Wynn Dot Comma are on a collision course.
After Saturday's Festival of the Sun set the stage, both Azpurua and Wolfson said they are pointing their unbeaten juveniles for the $150,000 Jack Price Stakes here on Nov. 15. The seven-furlong Jack Price - shaping up as Calder's race of the year - is one of six races on the $1 million Florida Million program.