ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The star turf mare Ipi Tombe makes her highly anticipated U.S. debut this weekend at Churchill Downs, and her long shadow extends all the way to Arlington.
Here, another overseas import, like Ipi Tombe owned by a Team Valor partnership and trained by Elliott Walden, runs for the first time in this country.
His name is European, he has started his career with two wins, and Team Valor is plenty high on this colt.
OCEANPORT, N. J. - Zavata adds star power to the Thursday card at Monmouth Park.
A Phone Trick colt who was one of the early-season juvenile sensations last year, he heads to the Jersey Shore for the second start of his 2003 campaign. Trainer Patrick Biancone entered Zavata in the $41,000 optional claiming race at six furlongs in an effort to get the horse back on the winning track.
His lone start this year came at Belmont Park; a tiring fifth-place finish in the slop on May 24.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Bold Truth, a son of Seattle Slew who has shown brilliance at times in his career, will try to regain his winning form Thursday at Belmont Park when he runs in a $47,000 allowance race for 3-year-olds-and-up who have never won three races.
This will be the second start for Bold Truth since coming back from surgery to remove chips from an ankle. In his first start, he finished fourth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths in a seven-furlong race at Keeneland in April. He arrived at Belmont in late May and has two moderate five-furlong breezes over the main track.
ELMONT, N.Y. - For the first time in a week, Belmont Park's main track on Tuesday morning was dry and fast. Horsemen took full advantage of the pristine conditions as a total of 289 horses - including 10 Grade 1 winners - were credited with timed workouts. An additional 136 horses were timed in workouts over the training track.
While at times the main track looked like the Long Island Expressway at rush hour, it played like a freshly paved thoroughfare as 25 of the 80 workouts at five furlongs were timed in under a minute.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With 10 wins from just 24 starts this year, trainer Eoin Harty is running one of the hottest stables in the country. A runaway debut by Flushing Meadows Sunday at Hollywood Park kept the stable perfect in 2-year-old races this year - three starts, three wins - and re-established Harty and owner Darley Stud Management as a major force in this season's juvenile division.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bad luck is the only reason Solar Echo is still eligible to the first allowance condition. Solar Echo returns Thursday in the second race at Hollywood Park, and if the 3-year-old filly ever strings together a steady campaign, there is no telling how high she might go.
Balanced Bodgit, who overcame traffic trouble to win an entry-level allowance last month and remain perfect on the Lone Star turf course, will put that unbeaten record on the line in Thursday's featured $27,000 allowance at one mile. The allowance, restricted to nonwinners of three, attracted a field of six.
AUBURN, Wash. - Summer got off to a rocky start at Emerald Downs on Saturday, June 21, with bizarre weather and some unusual racetrack happenings.
Though the racing surface was rated fast through the first three races, heavy if intermittent rain, accompanied at times by thunder and lightning, began falling after the first race. Then things began to get weird.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - The aptly named Sharp Miss appears the one to beat in Thursday's feature at the Alameda County Fair.
A Canadian-bred 3-year-old filly, Sharp Miss moved up through the claiming ranks at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows earlier this year and was favored in the Emeryville Stakes at Bay Meadows in her last start. Although she faded to sixth behind the talented Christmas Time, she should be tough to beat in Thursday's $40,000 optional claimer at six furlongs.
She is the lone member of the field of seven 3-year-old fillies running for a claiming price.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Unusual as it may seem, the importance of Thursday's feature race might well hinge on what occurred the previous afternoon at Churchill Downs.
That's because the pick six pool was likely to surge past the $1 million mark on Wednesday, meaning that if the bet happened to carry over for another day, the Thursday feature would be one of the key races in what would be an all-time record pick six pool at Churchill.
