DEL MAR, Calif. - In recent years at Del Mar, the 2-year stakes have been dominated by trainer Bob Baffert. But Baffert's streak was halted this summer by Richard Mandella, who made a clean sweep of the major stakes for 2-year-olds when Siphonizer captured the Grade 2, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on Wednesday's closing-day card.
"I'm a 2-year-old trainer," the Hall of Fame trainer said, partly in jest.
POMONA, Calif. - Trainer Jeff Mullins faced the same uncertainty three years ago that jockey Ryan Fogelsonger will deal with on Friday - wondering if there was enough room for one more horseman on the tough Southern California racing circuit.
Mullins found out the answer at the Los Angeles County Fair, which begins a run of 17 consecutive days on Friday at Fairplex Park. Said Mullins: "It is where I got my foot in the door and got the feeling we could be competitive in Southern California. It was definitely a stepping-stone."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Offlee Wild has not raced since finishing 12th in the May 3 Kentucky Derby, although that was not the original plan. Trainer T.V. Smith had hoped to make some noise this summer by running Offlee Wild in a cozy spot or two, but a minor setback changed all that.
"He came up with a little filling in his tendon shortly after the Derby," Smith said Wednesday at his Churchill Downs barn. "So I had to back off. Actually, it may have been a blessing in disguise."
ELMONT, N.Y. - After reeling off three consecutive victories to begin his North American career, it looked as though Blue Boat was ready to join the wealth of handicap stakes horses in trainer Bobby Frankel's barn.
But in his stakes debut, Blue Boat disappointed. After setting the pace in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap, Blue Boat faded to sixth, 12 lengths behind Puzzlement.
Blue Boat will try to right his ship on Friday when he takes on five rivals in a third-level allowance races at Belmont Park. The $52,000 race will be run at 1 1/16 miles over the main track.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Perfect Soul, one of the leading candidates for Sunday's Grade 1 Atto Mile, breezed four furlongs in 48.60 seconds on the E.P. Taylor turf course here Wednesday. With the filly First Quarter almost certain to instead run in Sunday's $250,000 Canadian Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares, a field of 11 was expected to pass the entry box Thursday for the Atto Mile.
Exercise rider Paul O'Sullivan was in the irons as Perfect Soul worked in the middle of a firm course, on which the rail was well out and the "dogs" up.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There was Captain Nicholas, and there - little dots in the rearview mirror - was the rest of the field.
This was the way things looked when five horses ran around Arlington's grass course in an overnight handicap on Aug. 30. The race was at 1 1/2 miles, farther than Captain Nicholas usually runs, and when the only other horse with speed scratched from the race, Captain Nicholas was left to control the pace.
AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Frank Lucarelli will play a strong hand in Friday's Emerald Downs feature, a six-furlong race for Washington-bred 3-year-old fillies eligible to be claimed for $20,000 to $18,000.
Lucarelli, who ranks third in the trainer standings with 34 wins, will saddle two of the six fillies entered, Freetobeme and Zairsaplan, and both come into the race off strong efforts in a $16,000 claiming race on Aug. 16.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Two upper-level claiming races are the highlights of Friday's card at Northlands.
Force King, from Ernie Keller's stable, heads a field of six in the eighth race, for $22,000 claimers at 1 1/16 miles. Leanne Painter retains the mount on Force King, who is coming off a third-place finish in a three-way win photo at Friday's distance.
Force King, a California-bred, also has had a win and a second for $15,000 since returning to the races after a break following a winter campaign at Turf Paradise.
Designed for Luck won his first stakes in almost three years in Wednesday's $76,675 Live the Dream Handicap at Del Mar, nearly clinching the riding title for winning jockey Patrick Valenzuela.
Designed for Luck was Valenzuela's 52nd winner of the meeting, giving him a five-race cushion on his closest pursuer, Julie Krone. Wednesday was the final day of the Del Mar meeting. Krone had six mounts in the final seven races of the program, while Valenzuela had five rides.
Perfect Energy, the longest shot on the board in the seven-horse field, went gate to wire Wednesday at Belmont to win the $65,800 Via Borghese Stakes by three-quarters of a length. Lojo rallied to be second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Blond Dancer.
Under Javier Castellano, Perfect Energy was able to make the lead and set fractions of 24.81 seconds, 49.51, 1:14.16, and 1:37.46. Perfect Energy covered the nine furlongs in 1:49.02 over a firm inner turf course and returned $36.20 to win.