OCEANPORT, N.J. - The brilliantly fast Something Smith helped launch the first New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival on Saturday at Monmouth Park with a front-running victory in the Friendly Lover, one of three stakes on the card.
The festival offered 11 races for New Jersey-breds as a showcase of the state's breeding industry. Such days have worked well in other states, and New Jersey hopes to build the festival to a similar level.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - The third edition of Illinois Day will be held at Fairmount Park on Tuesday and will feature six $35,000-added races for Illinois-breds. Short-priced favorites ruled on last year's Illinois Day card, and while it is possible the same thing will occur this year, several of the races do offer wagering value.
The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan., has attracted two new major stables for its 30-day mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that opens on Tuesday. The season will run through Nov. 1.
Dave Anderson, who is based in Nebraska and is the nation's 10th leading Thoroughbred trainer in victories, and Rodney Reed, who runs one of the country's leading Quarter Horse stables, will both race horses at the meet.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Kicken Kris, whose star is on the rise after his win in the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington Park, meets some familiar and new faces in Sunday's $200,000 at Belmont Park.
Kicken Kris, Joe Bear, and Lismore Knight - the first three under the wire in the Secretariat on Aug. 16 - are among nine 3-year-old grass runners entered in the Grade 2 Jamaica. Colita was entered main track only. A surface switch is unlikely since clear skies are in the weekend forecast.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Family ties run deep for trainer John Mazza with Lisa's Rainbow.
A 2-year-old filly, Lisa's Rainbow is the first foal from Bright Rainbow, who Mazza campaigned with success in New Jersey-bred races and in open company.
Lisa's Rainbow looks ready to carry on the family tradition. She won her first start, getting up in the final jump to capture a New Jersey-bred maiden special weight.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Pie N Burger, who has won his last four starts, will try to transfer his sharp form to turf in Sunday's $100,000 Louisiana Downs Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race that has drawn a deep field of older horses, including last-out stakes winners Pay the Preacher and Skate Away.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Even though it doesn't flaunt graded status, the Swynford Stakes has evolved into one of the most important fixtures for 2-year-olds at Woodbine. The last five winners of the seven-furlong dash - Added Edge, Rare Friends, Highland Legacy, Exciting Story, and Riddell's Creek - were all voted the Sovereign Award as champion 2-year-old.
POMONA, Calif. - Alibis are not required when a horse loses by a nose. But hours before 3-2 favorite Don'tsellmeshort was scheduled to run in the $100,000 I'm Smokin Stakes at Del Mar, trainer Dan Hendricks said he knew he was in trouble.
"I knew I was beaten after the second race, and we weren't running until the fifth," he said.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Southern California invader Stanley Park looms the likely favorite, but three locally based 3-year-olds should have a big say in the outcome of Sunday's $60,000-added Half Moon Bay Handicap at Bay Meadows.
Standard Setter, winner of the Grade 3 Golden Gate Derby; Obermeister, winner of the Pleasanton Stakes; and Winning Stripes, runner-up to Ministers Wild Cat in the Golden State Mile, are among the six entered in the 1 1/16-mile turf test.
The Baltimore Design Advisory Panel approved plans for a proposed overhaul of the Pimlico Race Course property on Thursday.
The proposal would entail razing the existing grandstand and reconfiguring the racing oval on the northwest corner of the property. The entire project would take 3 1/2 years to complete.
Pimlico is owned by a partnership of the Maryland Jockey Club and Magna Entertainment Corp.
