LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Ernie Retamoza wishes he could be part of the festivities here Monday - and he is not talking about anything involving Memorial Day celebrations.
Retamoza most likely would have had the favorite for the Monday feature, the $150,000 Kentucky Breeders' Cup Stakes, but El Sysco Kid recently got sick, forcing the trainer to wait for the Bashford Manor on July 6.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Several years ago, far enough back that the exact dates blur, the trainer Hugh Robertson went home to Nebraska and stopped at Bluestem Farm, which was and still is managed by his brother, Jim. Robertson's business was to inspect 12 yearlings and cull from them a couple racing prospects.
"I picked two chestnuts out of the field," Robertson recalled, "and my brother said, 'Yep, I thought so, too. Those two are by the teaser.' "
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Monday's $100,000 Seabiscuit Handicap at Bay Meadows may have a field of only six.
Reba's Gold seems set for his first start since a ninth-place finish in the Japan Cup last Nov. 23. I'madrifter, who won two stakes at Golden Gate Fields earlier this year, and Free Corona, who has five stakes victories at Turf Paradise this year, will run in the Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile race.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Multiple stakes winner Colorful Tour and reformed claimer Patton's Victory head a field of six in Sunday's $50,000 Precisionist at Prairie Meadows.
Colorful Tour is looking to rebound from a seventh-place finish at odds of 5-2 in the National Jockey Club Handicap at Hawthorne April 19. A 4-year-old son of Tour d'Or, Colorful Tour had a five-race winning streak snapped in his prior start when he finished second, beaten a length by Patton's Victory, in the Grade 3 Fifth Season at Oaklawn Park.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Pass Rush flew into Texas Friday and will start as one of the chief threats to Bluesthestandard in the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap here Monday.
With a good performance in the race, Pass Rush could advance to the Grade 1, $750,000 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs June 14.
But the first order of business is the Lone Star, said Patrick Byrne, who trains Pass Rush. The 1 1/16-mile race is the richest of seven stakes races on a card called Lone Star Million Day. The races are worth a cumulative $1 million.
AUBURN, Wash. - Last year Emerald Downs was host to a racing rarity when Arctic White, who was just the 12th Thoroughbred ever to be registered as white, made his debut at the Washington track.
This year's meet will have a novelty that may be more unusual still, as two sets of twins are nearing their debuts at Emerald.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A preview of the female stakes division takes place at Assiniboia Downs on Sunday in the seventh race, when the best fillies and mares on the grounds compete for a $16,000 allowance purse going 5 1/2 furlongs.
Eight have been entered, but the filly everyone will be watching is Regal Heir, who won the 6 1/2-furlong Supernaturel Handicap at Hastings last year.
Trained by Sid Martin for Briar Hill Farm, Regal Heir also finished third in the 1 1/16-mile Free Vacation Handicap at Hastings last year.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Myckie Neubauer, who has been training since 1988, had such a good season in 2002 she didn't want it to end.
Neubauer won 18 races at Fort Erie for earnings of $490,770. Plus she had seven victories at Woodbine from 20 starts, picking up another $251,238.
Neubauer plays the claiming game and shares in the ownership of most of her runners. Just two years earlier, after a four-win season, she was considering dropping out.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - One of the reasons Terry Jordan won with over half of his starters last year is that he always is looking for the easiest possible spot for his horses. Rarely are his horses longer than 2-1 and if they are, well, caution is advised.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Air Cool, like a number of Canada's older citizens, headed south to Florida this past winter.
But unlike his human counterparts, the 9-year-old Air Cool took a busman's holiday. The purpose of his trip was to try and pick up some United States currency at Gulfstream for owner John Atto and trainer Sandy McPherson.
Air Cool did not come home - he was claimed for $25,000 by Florida interests from a third-place finish Jan. 23 - but he will be honored in absentia here next Sunday as the Toronto Thoroughbred Racing Club's 2002 claimer of the year.