WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Noble Halo, the only winner in the field, is the probable favorite in Friday's $35,000 Graduation Stakes at Assiniboia. Six 2-year-olds will run in the 5 1/2-furlong race.
Noble Halo, trained by Emile Corbel for Red Diamond Stable, defeated two of his Friday rivals, Western County and Warmnfuzzyfeelin, in a maiden race at about three furlongs here June 20.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The winners of the two Canadian classic races recently run at Woodbine, the Labatt Woodbine Oaks and the Queen's Plate, each defied convention.
No filly had won the nine-furlong Oaks without having raced as a 2-year-old until this year, when unbeaten Too Late Now prevailed. Oaks runner-up Seeking the Ring was also unraced at 2, and both fillies had never even debuted until early April.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Neither John Ross nor Mark Frostad was on hand Tuesday at Fort Erie to watch his filly compete in the Labatt Bison City, because of commitments here at Woodbine.
But both trainers got to experience the thrill of victory, long-distance, as Brattothecore and Seeking the Ring dead-heated in the $250,000 Fort Erie feature.
Ross, who trains Brattothecore for the Jam-Jar Racing Stable of Bud and Jackie Reynolds, stayed here to saddle Classic Mike, who finished third in a third-level allowance.
Obermeister ($15.80), claimed for $8,000 on March 26, recorded his first stakes victory, winning the $49,900 Pleasanton Stakes in wire-to-wire fashion Wednesday at the Alameda County Fair.
Obermeister defeated Allwood, who was second the entire way, by 3 1/2 lengths in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds. His winning time was 1:41.64.
"I claimed him because of the raw speed he showed. If you have speed, you win races," owner-trainer Armando Lage said. "Speed is a great tool, and, when you go long, it's an extra asset."
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - It's a rare day in the Mid-South when Steve Asmussen or Cole Norman does not win at least one race - and business as usual when they win several.
This part of the country is home to the two young trainers, and over the past five years their stables have grown exponentially, putting them in a position to win title after title in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Last year, Asmussen led the nation in wins for the first time, while Norman ranked third. And so far this year, the two have combined to win all of the major training titles in the Mid-South.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - For the first time in its history, Lone Star Park plans to run a Thoroughbred meet in the fall next year. The proposed 19-day meet is designed to run around the Breeders' Cup, which will be held at Lone Star on Oct. 30, 2004.
The meet would run from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, pending approval of the Texas Racing Commission. In addition to the fall meet, Lone Star requested its traditional spring meet for Thoroughbreds, from April 15 to July 11.
ELMONT, N.Y. - For as much success as Kiaran McLaughlin has had at the Belmont Park meet, the trainer has yet to saddle a horse in a stakes race.
That will change when McLaughlin sends out at least three horses in three of the six stakes that will be run during the three-day holiday weekend.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Pieria had the misfortune of facing Mariensky in her last start May 4 at Aqueduct. Pieria finished second in that allowance race, beaten two lengths by Mariensky, who then scored back-to-back stakes victories.
Pieria won't meet the likes of Mariensky in Thursday's feature at Belmont Park, a second-level allowance race for fillies and mares on the Widener turf. Her biggest threat might be entrymate Float and Sting.
CHICAGO - Late Sunday afternoon, as Apt to Be turned into the stretch of the Hanshin Cup, the trainer Chris Block was getting into a good rhythm: shout, lean, pump fists; shout, lean, pump fists; shout, lean . . .
Standing in the box of Arlington chairman Dick Duchossois, Apt to Be's owner, Block seemed to be riding Apt to Be harder than jockey Eddie Razo.
"I wanted that horse to win yesterday so badly," Block said Monday morning. "For Mr. D., yes, but even more for the horse. He's a real tiger. He's always been one of my favorites."
AUBURN, Wash. - Strikes No Spares's initial stakes win, in Saturday's one-mile King County Handicap, was a little late in coming, since the 4-year-old filly had contested seven stakes races and placed in four before winning one. Even so, it was accomplished in a manner that suggested there will be more to come.
