DEL MAR, Calif. - The first five-furlong turf race at Del Mar in nine years produced a course record on Thursday when FJ's Pace won an optional claimer in 56.32 seconds.
The record may not last long.
With turf sprints scheduled throughout the meeting, including two $75,000 stakes, a division of horses that normally had no opportunities at Del Mar will be in action.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ipi Tombe will not be the only South African turf horse to make an impact on North American racing this year.
Trademark, a 7-year-old gelding who finished 5 1/2 lengths behind the mare Ipi Tombe in two starts in Dubai this winter, received a perfect trip under Richard Migliore on Friday and galloped to a 4 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2, $150,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap before a crowd of 18,857 at sunny Saratoga.
OCEANPORT, N.J.- A fired-up Willie's Luv was a runaway train at Philadelphia Park in her last start, in the Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap on July 5.
The filly rocketed to an eight-length lead before fading to third. Trainer Jamie Woodington hopes a return to home turf Sunday in the $50,000 Spruce Fir at Monmouth Park will have a calming effect on Willie's Luv.
"She doesn't handle shipping and running very well," Woodington said. "She doesn't relax as well when she has to ship.
Penn National Gaming Inc., the owner of Penn National racetrack in Pennsylvania, Charles Town Races in West Virginia, and several U.S. casinos, had net income of $15.5 million, or 38 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2003, the company said Thursday.
Earnings in the second quarter were up 65 percent compared with the second quarter in 2002, when net income was $9.2 million, or 23 cents per share.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Eight 2-year-old Minnesota-breds will compete in Sunday's $35,000 Minnesota Juvenile Sprint Stakes at Canterbury Park, and while a number of the contestants offer real promise, McKenna Beach appears the runner the rest will be setting their sights on in the 5 1/2-furlong race.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Statebred-restricted handicaps offering a $45,000 purse don't get much tougher than Arlington's featured eighth race Sunday.
Out of My Way, a sharp winner of three straight races, squares off against Colorful Tour, champion Illinois-bred 2-year-old and 3-year-old in his last two complete seasons of racing. Throw in the multiple stakes winner San Pedro and improving horses like Big Daddy Longlegs, and this eight-horse field begins to look pretty salty.
Trainer Larry Robideaux Jr. has done it with success in recent meets - shipping fillies from Louisiana Downs to win stakes in Kentucky. His latest runner on deck to make the trip is Distinctive Code, who won the $50,000 Suthern Accent at Louisiana Downs on July 12.
She is being pointed for the $100,000 Ellis Park Breeders' Cup Handicap for fillies and mares Aug. 10.
Robideaux chose the race because of its six-furlong distance. All seven of Distinctive Code's wins have come at the distance, among them a March score in the $100,000 Victoria Lass at Fair Grounds.
AUBURN, Wash. - Moonlight Meeting sizzled six furlongs in 1:09.80 last Sunday at Emerald Downs in his final prep for Sunday's $100,000 Mt. Rainier Breeders' Cup Handicap, a race he won last year, but you would never know it from the way he galloped on Wednesday morning.
The 8-year-old Moonlight Meeting attacked his task with gusto Wednesday, straining against the hold of exercise rider Dennis Madsen and looking every inch the picture of health.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A total of 118 nominations have been received for the eight races that make up the major events for B.C. Cup Day on Aug. 4 at Hastings. Many of the horses are nominated to more than one race, and trainers are still trying to figure out where their horses will run.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Last year's Canadian champion 3-year-old, Le Cinquieme Essai, who is based at Fort Erie, is backing off the competition at Woodbine, where he has dropped his first three starts in 2003.
Le Cinquieme Essai will run at Fort Erie in the Puss N Boots Sept. 1, said his trainer, Paul Nielsen. "I might even put another race into him before that," Nielsen said. "It depends on what comes up. He needs a confidence-builder."