MIAMI - What can Saturday's $500,000 Smile Sprint Handicap do for an encore?
Last year Orientate came to town and easily won in a field that included nationally renowned sprinters Echo Eddie and Crafty C.T., and then went on to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint and earn an Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding sprinter.
MIAMI - Buffythecenterfold is a three-time graded stakes winner and far and away the class of the field for Saturday's $300,000 Azalea Stakes. But the six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies does not figure to be easy pickings for the California invader, who will take on 11 rivals, including the undefeated Angela's Love and local favorites Storm Flag and Crafty Brat.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It will be up to local riders such as Alex Solis to prevent a sweep by visiting jockeys of Sunday's three major stakes at Hollywood Park.
The $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup for older horses, the $400,000 Swaps Stakes for 3-year-olds, and the $250,000 A Gleam Handicap has attracted top riders from Kentucky and New York.
Jerry Bailey is seeking his fifth Gold Cup win, aboard Congaree, the likely favorite.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Garrett Gomez, who has won more than 2,000 races in his career but has not ridden since last fall, was arrested in Temecula, Calif., on July 3 on drug-related charges.
Gomez, 35, is being held at the Southwest Detention Center in Temecula, according to Dennis Gutierrez, a spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After a yearlong layoff, Full Moon Madness returns in Saturday's $75,000 Robert Kerlan Memorial Handicap at Hollywood Park, trying to protect a three-race winning streak in a turf sprint that caters to his strength.
Since winning the Answer Do Stakes for California-breds on July 13, 2002, Full Moon Madness has stayed with trainer Ruben Cardenas at the racetrack. An 8-year-old, Full Moon Madness was previously trained by Robert Marshall, who still works closely with Cardenas on the gelding's training.
MIAMI - Gold Mover and Harmony Lodge split a pair of stakes decisions over the winter at Gulfstream Park. Saturday, the pair will return to south Florida for the rubber match in their season series when they face six other fillies and mares in the $500,000 Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder.
The Grade 2 Princess Rooney, the co-feature with the Smile Handicap on the $1.75 million Summit of Speed program, will be decided at six furlongs.
MIAMI - Thomas Wolfe's old adage "You can't go home again" will be put to the test when King Robyn, once based at Calder, returns to his roots to face 10 other 3-year-olds in Saturday's $300,000 Carry Back Stakes.
King Robyn, a gelded son of Robyn Dancer, was sold privately by owner-breeder Michael Sherman to the Cornejo Racing Stable and turned over to trainer Jeff Mullins shortly after posting an easy seven-length victory under a $50,000 claiming tag here last December.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has done just about everything right at Belmont Park's spring-summer meet, except win a stakes race.
McLaughlin, who has won with 17 of his 36 starters at the meet, can take care of that in Saturday's $150,000 Bowling Green Handicap.
McLaughlin will saddle State Shinto, a determined winner of a classified allowance race in his last start. He earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Tenpins, a winner of three graded stakes in 2002, returns from a 7 1/2-month layoff in the premiere event of the Prairie Meadows season, Saturday's Grade 3, $350,000 Cornhusker Breeders' Cup Handicap.
Tenpins, a front-runner, scored gate-to-wire victories last year in the Grade 3 Schaefer at Pimlico and the Fayette at Keeneland. He posted his biggest career win in the Grade 2, $400,000 Washington Park Handicap at Arlington last September. Tenpins stalked the pace in that race and won by a neck.
