MUSKEGON, Mich. - A racing oddity occurred in Great Lakes Downs's first race Tuesday evening. When American Moxie won the maiden special weight race, he created not only a minus show pool, but a minus place pool and a minus win pool.
The board showed $2.10 for all straight mutuel bets. American Moxie, a Canadian son of Will's Way, combined with second-place Beniamino (6-1) to produce a paltry $5 exacta. Fappiano'srjourney (24-1) completed a $17.60 trifecta.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Carlos Gonzalez is very familiar with the winner's circle at Louisiana Downs. In fact, he ranks seventh on the all-time jockey standings with nearly 900 wins here. The leading rider in 1999, Gonzalez has now returned to Bossier City after spending most of the past two seasons riding at Calder Race Course in Florida.
Bettors who have been backing Gonzalez have been rewarded handsomely, as he has already won with several longshots, including Evasive Decision ($118) on Thursday.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Devil Time, who has won two stakes this year, heads a full field of 14 Ohio-bred 3-year-olds and upward in Friday's $50,000 George Lewis Memorial Stakes, at 1 1/8-mile race at Thistledown.
Devil Time, owned by Brad Anderson, comes into the race off a 4 1/2-length win in the 1 1/16-mile Gendelman Handicap at River Downs on June 22. Before that he was fourth in an optional claimer at Churchill and unplaced in the Grade 3 Aegon Turf Sprint, also at Churchill.
MIAMI - When Phil Combest and his father, trainer Reed Combest, sold Ms Brookski privately to owner Gary Tanaka during the winter of 2002, they thought they had seen the last of their graded- stakes-winning filly.
But after turning in four disappointing efforts since leaving the Combests more than 16 months ago, Ms Brookski is back once again in stall 13 in Barn 41 on the Calder backstretch. And according to Phil Combest, it's as if she never left.
Hawkish will be favored in the Grade 1, $400,000 Ed Burke Futurity to take the second step toward becoming the first horse to win the $1 million Los Alamitos Bonanza on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.
Hawkish won the Grade 1 Kindergarten on May 17, and if he can win the Ed Burke Futurity and the Los Alamitos Million on Dec. 12 he will earn the $1 million bonus.
Thoroughbreds will race on the same program with Quarter Horses at Remington Park for the first time starting on Friday, when the first mixed meet begins at the Oklahoma City track with a special 6 p.m. Central first post time.
First post time on Saturday is 6:45 p.m. and first post time on Sunday is 1:15 p.m.
Rare Fasteroid will defend his title in the Grade 3, $40,000 Classic Chevrolet Stakes, the highlight of four stakes in the Texas Summer Showdown at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas, on Friday night.
In his sole 2003 start, Rare Fasteroid finished off the board in the Miss Polly Stakes at Delta Downs. Last year, he won the Classic Chevrolet Stakes at 10-1 and the B.F. Phillips Handicap at Lone Star Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Thus far, Todd Pletcher has done a masterful job keeping his 2-year-olds from racing against each other. That comes to an end Thursday.
Pletcher, who has already won five juvenile stakes this year, will send out Flash winner Chapel Royal against Tremont winner Heckle in Thursday's Grade 2, $150,000 Sanford Stakes. A field of seven was entered for the Sanford, run at six furlongs, including the coupled entry of Adage and Boston Brahmin for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
Laurel Park's 22-day summer meet gets off to a fast start with the return of the darling of Maryland racing, Magic Weisner, on Thursday's opening-day card.
Another longtime Maryland favorite, trainer King Leatherbury, is on the brink of 6,000 career wins, a feat that has been accomplished by only two others, Jack Van Berg and Dale Baird. Leatherbury, 70, who has won a combined 51 training titles at Laurel Park and Pimlico, had saddled 5,998 winners through Monday. He saddles one runner on Thursday at Laurel, Private Cat, in the second race.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Dean Greenman trains 10 horses at Del Mar, three of whom are racing on Thursday, all with a chance, all in consecutive races that close out the pick three, pick four, and pick six on the meet's second day, best known around here as the calm after the storm.
The opening-day tumult will yield to a relaxed, carefree day at Del Mar on Thursday. It could be a banner day for Greenman, who will go for a natural hat trick in races 6, 7, and 8.
