OCEANPORT, N.J. - Perhaps it was the year layoff or the string of injuries that compromised Miss Linda.
Whatever the reason, the Grade 1 winner was not her dominant self Wednesday afternoon at Monmouth Park and suffered a surprising defeat in her comeback race.
Rebecca's Charm won the mile and 70-yard allowance race with Miss Linda, the 3-10 favorite, a distant second.
It was far cry from what trainer John Kimmel and jockey Richard Migliore expected.
A public auction of equipment Tuesday at the defunct Sportsman's Park fell apart when the Town of Cicero swooped in and bought all the lots en masse. The move signaled Cicero's intention to purchase and redevelop the Sportsman's property, which sits on the southern edge of the town.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Perfect Drift won the Midwest's premier handicap race, and the horse he beat is getting all the credit.
Perfect Drift pushed past Mineshaft in the stretch and took the Grade 1 Stephen Foster by a head June 14 at Churchill Downs, but the race is becoming known as Mineshaft's loss, not the one Perfect Drift won.
Bonapaw is on the comeback trail. The gelding, who has not raced since finishing second in the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile on April 26, is scheduled to have his first work back Saturday. His immediate goal is the $75,000 Evangeline Mile at Evangeline Downs on Aug. 16.
Bonapaw is stabled at Folsom Training Center north of New Orleans, in the same region as the Lafayette, La., track.
"We gave him 30 days off, and he's been back in training for two weeks now," said Norman Miller, who trains Bonapaw for Dennis Richard. "He's doing great."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winner Early Wisdom is one of five runners entered for Friday's Woodbine feature, a second-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up.
Early Wisdom, a son of late-blooming stakes winners Whiskey Wisdom and Early Blaze, showed promise two years ago in October of his 2-year-old season, when he won a two-turn maiden special weight race by open lengths. He was then sidelined until last July 11, when he was well beaten in a six-furlong allowance race.
EDMONTON, Alberta - It has been years since the local Thoroughbred scene has been dominated by just a handful of horses, but that's certainly the case at Northlands Park this year with a huge gap between the stars and the rest of the crowd.
In the 3-year-old colts division, Taiaslew has shown he could be one of the finest horses to ever race in Alberta, and Edmonton fans will now have just one chance to see the leading candidate for Alberta horse of the year honors.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Empire Maker, winner of the Belmont Stakes, returned to the track early Wednesday morning for a relatively slow four-furlong workout over the main track at Belmont Park.
Empire Maker was timed in 51.03, breezing, in the workout, which took place at 6:15 a.m., according to trainer Bobby Frankel. The time was the fifth-slowest of the 23 works at the distance on Wednesday.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Grade 3, $100,000 Long Branch Stakes could draw a field of eight Saturday as the featured event of the weekend.
The Long Branch, at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds, serves as the traditional prep for the meet's centerpiece, the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on Aug. 3. Since 1990, only two Long Branch winners skipped the Haskell and three went on to run second.
The roster of possible Long Branch runners includes: Christine's Outlaw, In Hand, Newfoundland, Sky Soldier, Yo, Happy Trails, Supervisor, and Grand Hombre.
Whosleavingwho and Streakin Sin Tacha, who shared the 2002 world champion title, race in separate races this weekend.
Whosleavingwho will start in the trials to the Grade 1, $125,800 Vessels Maturity on Friday night at Los Alamitos, and Streakin Sin Tacha will go for his second straight win in the Grade 1, $82,080 MBNA America Texas Challenge on Saturday night at Sam Houston Race Park.