Hollywood Park has reduced the distance of the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes and increased the purse and distance of the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby for the 2003 runnings on Nov. 30.
The $500,000 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares on turf will be shortened from 1 1/8 miles to one mile. As recently as 1998, the Matriarch was run over 1 1/4 miles. Track officials acknowledged that, with the advent of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 1999, the Matriarch has lost some of its importance.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - The fifth annual Claiming Crown drew an all-sources handle of $3,242,326 on the 11-race program run Saturday at Canterbury Park, a record for the event and a record for any racing card at Canterbury. Ontrack, attendance was 10,420 and handle was $778,462, third-highest in Claiming Crown history in both categories.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Before the $40,000 John Patrick Memorial last Saturday at Northlands Park, trainer Ron Grieves suggested
that Sly Lady could be the best Thoroughbred in Alberta.
Sly Lady, an Alberta-bred 4-year-old filly, kept up her end of the bargain by dominating the Patrick field, winning the one-mile race by nearly six lengths.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Trainer Gil Matos looks forward to the Santa Rosa meet all year long.
"It's the best two weeks of the year for me," he said. "I'm sure [some] horsemen feel the same about Del Mar and Saratoga, but no horseman enjoys [their track] more than I enjoy Santa Rosa."
Matos, stabled year-round at Golden Gate Fields, said he might run 15 horses during the 12-day meeting, and he gets off to a fast start on opening day Wednesday with three horses entered, each of which looks like a contender.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Wednesday is one of the top days on the year's racing calendar.
Saratoga opens. Del Mar opens. And Santa Rosa opens.
It is not a stretch to call Santa Rosa the Del Mar or Saratoga of northern California. Like the other two tracks, it is located just far enough from the mainstream of daily racing to be special.
With Sonoma County wineries, golf courses, and the Pacific Ocean in close proximity, it serves as a getaway of sorts for fans, owners, and even trainers. There are also numerous quality restaurants nearby for dining.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - They are ex-claimers, but the two graded stakes winners in the fifth annual Claiming Crown proved they were in a different class Saturday at Canterbury Park.
Pioneer Boy won the deepest race in the six-race Claiming Crown series, the Rapid Transit, by putting his superior speed to maximum use and finishing 2 1/2 lengths clear of the other graded winner, Debonair Joe.
"This horse ran really hard," jockey Rick Wilson said after Pioneer Boy finished the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.47 over a fast track. Pioneer Boy returned $6.80.
STANTON, Del. - On a day when three winners paid $50 or more, and two track records were broken, things settled back to normal for the feature race of a four-stakes program Sunday at Delaware Park.
Trainer Bobby Frankel, who scoops up graded stakes victories as readily as movie-goers gulp down popcorn, sent out odds-on favorite Wild Spirit to a dominating six-length victory in the Grade 2, $750,000 Delaware Handicap.
It was the 34th graded stakes win for Frankel this year. But, said Frankel, unlike some habits he never gets tired of winning, especially in big races.
WOODBINE, Ontario - Any who may have doubted that a star had been born here in the Queen's Plate need only to have witnessed Wando run this past Sunday at Fort Erie, where he put on a one-horse show in the Prince of Wales Stakes.
Wando certainly had the looks, and had displayed the talent, but at Fort Erie Wando showed he truly had achieved that elusive and indefinable star quality.
Saturday was a memorable day for trainer Murray Johnson, whose stable star, Perfect Drift, thoroughly dominated the $400,000 Washington Park Handicap to become a major contender for the Aug. 16 Arlington Million, the annual highlight of the meet at Arlington Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sam-Son Farm castoff Hard Edge caused quite a stir June 30 at Woodbine, when he upset the favored Sam-Son runner Puffer in an entry-level allowance.
Hard Edge will move up to the second allowance category and try to stay 1 3/16 miles on the grass in Wednesday's featured third race. The $74,400 race also has lured Royal Regalia, El General, Justified Attack, Wild Strike, and Funny Soldier.