VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In 2002, trainer Dino Condilenios mapped out a racing season for Lord Nelson that was supposed to have him peaking on the day of the Longacres Mile. Although Lord Nelson had a good year, things didn't work out according to plan.
This year, Condilenios is going to try a different approach, which begins with Saturday's George Royal Stakes. "We're just going to take it one race at a time," he said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mickey Walls has wavered in the past, but this time he has no doubt.
Walls, who will turn 29 on June 1, is through with being a jockey.
"This is definitely it," said Walls, who weighed in at a comfortable 144 pounds here the other morning after completing his shift as a free-lance exercise rider.
"I'm healthy, and I never knew what healthy really was before," he said. "Since I was a bug boy, I've been reducing and fasting."
CHICAGO - It's going on two years since Woodmoon beat Macho Uno and narrowly lost to Western Pride in the Ohio Derby. Nothing terrible has happened since then, but neither has Woodmoon done anything extraordinary.
Last winter something clicked for Woodmoon. A habitual front-runner, he discovered how to race from behind, and this new rate-and-rally style has, belatedly, given Woodmoon a chance to fulfill the promise of that Ohio race.
CHICAGO - Steve Asmussen led the country in wins by a trainer last year, and this season has seen little change. Asmussen easily won the Fair Grounds training title over the winter, and as of this week was second in the country by wins and third in earnings.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Summer Colony, among the leaders in her division last year, will make her 5-year-old debut in the $150,000 Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap on May 16.
Last year, Summer Colony won the Grade 3 Pimlico Distaff by a nose over Dancethruthedawn.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It didn't take Dale Romans long to make it known that he intends to be in the thick of the race for top trainer at Churchill Downs once again. Romans, who owns the unusual distinction of having tied for the training title at each of the last three spring meets, won the first race of the 2003 meet with Glitter Act.
Friday, when Churchill conducts its first twilight card of the year, Glitter Act figures to be among the top contenders in the feature race, a $43,500 entry-level allowance that goes as the ninth of 10 races.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Belmont Park opened its 55-day meet with a bang Wednesday when Najran shattered a 10-year-old track record in the $109,700 Westchester Handicap before a crowd of 7,781.
Najran, ridden by Edgar Prado, covered the one-mile distance in 1:32.24 over a fast track that had been kind to speed horses during the day. Williamstown previously held the record of 1:32.60, which he set in 1993. Najran's time equaled the North American dirt record, set by Dr. Fager on Aug. 24, 1968, in the Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park. Dr. Fager carried 134 pounds.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Hawthorne National, the loosely merged entity comprising Hawthorne Race Course and the National Jockey Club, concluded its first racing season Tuesday, posting positive business figures.
Compared with a similar schedule last year at the defunct Sportsman's Park, Hawthorne showed gains in several categories. All-sources betting on live Hawthorne races rose 17.8 percent from last year, reaching a daily average of $2,418,913, compared with $2,054,331 for the same days in 2002.
Churchill Downs Inc. posted a net loss of $11.5 million in the first quarter of 2003, or 87 cents per share, a slight improvement over the company's first-quarter loss of $12.0 million, or 92 cents per share, in 2002.
Revenue in the quarter was $33.8 million, compared with $31.0 million in the first quarter of 2002. Operating expenses also increased from last year, from $39.7 million to $43.5 million in the quarter.