Magna Entertainment Corp., majority owner of the Maryland Jockey Club, unveiled on Wednesday the first phase of a plan to rebuild Pimlico and Laurel Park from the ground up - grandstands, racing surfaces and stable areas.
Jim McAlpine, president of Magna, said at a Maryland Racing Commission meeting that the initial phase will cost $46 million and include building new stables and a training track at Laurel. That will be completed by December 2005, he said.
Black Ruby and Taz, the two popular racing mules, will meet in a match race for the third time in the last nine months in the $10,000 Battle of the Titans at Los Alamitos on May 23.
The match race will be the first parimutuel mule race at Los Alamitos.
Last summer, Black Ruby and Taz met in match races at Del Mar and Fairplex Park, with Black Ruby winning both.
The Los Alamitos race will be run over 300 yards with $6,000 to the winner. Black Ruby will carry 130 pounds, three more than Taz.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Though trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. can sometimes be given to hyperbole, he has managed to keep his filly Cyber Secret's upset of champion Storm Flag Flying in last month's Comely Stakes in perspective.
"I don't think Storm Flag Flying ran her race," Dutrow said. "I think we beat her when it wasn't her day. So, we're not all pumped up about that."
A pair of fillies who most recently raced in Florida bring strong credentials into Saturday's $75,000 Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico.
Gal O Gal, whose five turf victories include a Grade 3 stakes, and One and Twenty, a Grade 3 winner in Canada last year, head a full field of 10 3-year-old fillies in the 1 1/16-mile Hilltop. There are four also-eligibles.
MIAMI - Just Listen should benefit from a perfect pace set-up and is the class of the field for Saturday's $75,000 Carterista Handicap at Calder. But before rushing to the windows to back Just Listen at what figures to be a short price one should also be well aware that the 7-year-old has not won a race in almost four years and has posted just a single victory in 27 previous starts on grass.
Skip the Print and Haunted Lass, the first two finishers in the Late Bloomer Stakes on April 28, could stage a rematch in the six-furlong, $75,000 Sweet and Sassy Handicap on May 17 at Delaware Park.
Skip the Print, a 5-year-old mare trained by Javier Contreras, beat 4-5 favorite Haunted Lass by three-quarters of a length in the Late Bloomer. The 96 Beyer Speed Figure she earned was 1 point shy of her career best.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Run Kush Run tries to state his case as the dominant sprinter in New England Saturday when he makes his Suffolk Downs debut in the $35,000 William Almy Jr. Stakes.
The Almy could be a stepping-stone for Run Kush Run to the track's major race this year, the $200,000 Moseley Breeders' Cup Handicap.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Defending champion Sharky's Review heads a field of seven Iowa-bred fillies and mares going six furlongs in Saturday's $60,000 Mamie Eisenhower Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
Sharky's Review, a multiple stakes winner of more than $416,000, finished third behind two of her Saturday rivals in a $41,000 allowance race here on opening night April 18. Sharky's Review, a 5-year-old daughter of Sharky, should benefit from that outing, her first race of the year.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Waist Gunner John will be a heavy favorite on Saturday when he faces 12 Ohio-bred 3-year-olds and upward in the $35,000 Summit Silver Cup at six furlongs.
Waist Gunner John won several stakes last year, including the Best of Ohio Sprint Championship at Beulah Park. In his last race, he finished a fast-closing second, beaten a head, in the prep for the Summit Silver Cup on April 21. That race indicates owner-trainer Chuck Kovach has him near the top of his form. If that is the case he will have little difficulty winning his first stakes of the year Saturday.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Malcoha, 11, showed no signs of advancing age in his loss by a neck on Tuesday to Alyswell, who shipped here from Woodbine. Malcoha and Alyswell, after a stretch-long duel, finished more than six lengths ahead of third-place finisher Tonkawa in Tuesday's third race.
Alyswell bumped Malcoha near the wire, and Malcoha's rider, Brian Bochinski, lodged an objection. Wilf Jones, Malcoha's trainer, was upset when the stewards dismissed the foul claim.
"The bump cost him," said Jones. "He never loses when it's a photo finish."