DEL MAR, Calif. - The matter of who will ride Candy Ride will wait another day. Trainer Ron McAnally on Tuesday morning said that he and owners Sid and Jenny Craig would not decide who would replace the injured Gary Stevens until Wednesday, when entries are due for Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
The Pacific Classic is being drawn at a cocktail party at a local hotel after the races on Wednesday evening. The rest of Sunday's card is scheduled to be drawn on Thursday.
Toccet won his comeback race on Tuesday, breezing to a measured three-quarter-length win over Ashmore in the $35,300 Widener Stakes at Philadelphia Park.
Jorge Chavez came down from Saratoga to ride Toccet, who is being pointed to the Grade 3, $750,000 Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 1.
Pie N Burger, who is based at Louisiana Downs, has risen to the top of the region's handicap division in a short time. Since arriving from Southern California in April, he has won three consecutive stakes, with his latest score coming Saturday night in the $75,000 Evangeline Mile at Evangeline Downs.
That race drew one of its deepest fields ever, yet Pie N Burger won by 6 1/2 lengths under Jamie Theriot. It was the horse's fourth straight win since he moved to this region and the barn of trainer Cole Norman.
SAN MATEO, Calif - The Bay Meadows Fair, which ended Monday, was a red-letter meet on several fronts.
On Aug. 13, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer debuted a 3-year-old filly, Gone to Party, who could be something special.
She entered the race with uncharacteristically fast works, blowing out with a bullet half-mile of 46.60 after having worked six furlongs in 1:11.20 in her previous drill.
AUBURN, Wash. - Sky Jack, the highweight and certain favorite for Sunday's Grade 3 Longacres Mile, is an imposing individual.
He was facing the rear of his stall on Monday morning, shortly after he arrived at Emerald from Los Angeles, and his hind end seemed to block out the entire entranceway.
"He's a big guy," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "And he has that classic Thoroughbred hind end. It's not square like a Quarter Horse. It's more like an A-frame, but it's deep and powerful."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Bob Tiller certainly couldn't find any humor in the situation as he watched Twisted Wit thrash about in a tangle underneath the starting gate here last Thursday morning.
But Tiller was able to breathe a sigh of relief Sunday after watching Twisted Wit, a 2-year-old son of Distorted Humor whom he trains for Rolph Davis, bounce back to become a stakes winner in the $163,350 Vandal.
CHICAGO - Storming Home, who crossed the finish first Saturday in the Arlington Million, and Sulamani, placed first by disqualification, both may make their next start at Belmont Park, but not necessarily against each other. Barring a change in plans, the two will have a rematch this fall in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The first four finishers in the New York Derby at Finger Lakes last month meet again in Wednesday's $150,000-added Albany at Saratoga.
Six 3-year-olds entered the 1 1/8-mile Albany, the final leg of the Big Apple Triple for New York-breds. Bossanova, who is sidelined with an injury, won the first race in the series, the Mike Lee at Belmont Park on June 28. Traffic Chief was a three-length winner of the second leg, the New York Derby on July 26. It was Traffic Chief's fourth win in five starts.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Barclay Tagg repeated once again Monday morning that Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide is "highly unlikely'' to run in Saturday's Travers, but Tagg and his owners did not discount the possibility of entering him in the race when post positions are drawn on Wednesday.
"I might, if they want to go for the money,'' said Tagg, noting that it would cost $5,000 to enter Funny Cide in the Travers.
"We wouldn't rule that out,'' said Dave Mahan, one of the 10 members of Sackatoga Stable, which owns Funny Cide. "It's possible.''
DEL MAR, Calif. - Gary Stevens will be out one month because of injuries suffered in a terrifying accident in Saturday's Arlington Million, and will miss several key rides this weekend, most notably on the unbeaten Candy Ride in Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
Stevens suffered a collapsed lung, and X-rays also revealed a fracture to a cervical vertebra, but according to Stevens's theatrical agent, Ed Goldstone, doctors are not sure if the fracture previously existed or was caused in Saturday's accident.
