INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The $1.3 million California Gold Rush at Hollywood Park - a six-stakes, 10-race card for California-breds - is still in its infancy. The horses? That's a different story. Many of the top horses racing Saturday in the fourth annual Gold Rush are practically ancient.
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DRF Past Performances
Grade 1 winners rarely ship in to compete at Calder Race Course this early in the season, but such will be the case when Dress to Thrill opens her 2003 campaign in Saturday's $150,000 Calder Breeders' Cup Handicap on the turf.
Trainer Christophe Clement sees the 1 1/16-mile mile Calder Breeders' Cup as the perfect starting point for what he hopes will be a championship-caliber season for Dress to Thrill.
Dress to Thrill closed out 2002 with a win by a head over Eclipse Award winner Golden Apples in Hollywood Park's Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The ease with which Private Emblem won his 4-year-old debut last month suggests he has an exciting season ahead of him, one that will get interesting Saturday when he meets California shipper Bluesthestandard in the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park.
The race will be Private Emblem's first stakes start of the year after he romped by four lengths in a $65,000 optional claimer at Oaklawn Park on March 29.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Great Lakes Downs opens for its fifth season of racing on Saturday, a 118-day meet that runs through through Oct. 28. The five-eighth-mile oval is owned by Frank Stronach's Magna Entertainment Corporation.
The stakes schedule is unchanged from last year and is highlighted by the Michigan Sire Stakes on Oct. 11. The six stakes are for the progeny of Michigan sires, and each race is worth in excess of $120,000.
The Regret Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies on May 23, is the first of 20 stakes for statebred runners.
Graded stakes placed 4-year-old fillies For Rubies and Don't Countess Out head a field of eight fillies and mares entered in Saturday's $50,000 Prairie Rose Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.
For Rubies makes her second start of the year after having scored a 4 3/4-length victory over allowance rivals at Oaklawn Park 15 days ago. She is trained by Lynn Whiting.
PHOENIX - It's a day to celebrate the Arizona-bred, and Turf Paradise goes full tilt Saturday, carding seven stakes for statebreds on an 11-race card. Highlighting the program are the $35,000 Grand Canyon Handicap and $25,000 Arizona Breeders' Derby, which go as races six and 10.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Pat Byrne has been here before. Six years ago, Byrne won the Derby Trial with Richter Scale, who rolled to a powerful five-length triumph before going on to become a Grade 1 winner.
Byrne returns Saturday with a far less accomplished colt in Private Gold, and he is fully aware that the task will be more difficult this time. One reason is because because Midas Eyes will be a heavy favorite in the opening-day feature at Churchill Downs.
LEXINGTON, Ky - Trainer Bobby Frankel was walking out of the winner's circle following Lilac Queen's easy four-length victory over Beyond the Waves and eight other older fillies and mares in Thursday's $100,000 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland when a fan yelled out, "Hey, Bobby, don't you ever lose?"
Frankel simply smiled while hurrying off to watch the replay of Lilac Queen's first U.S. stakes victory, and her third straight one-sided win since returning from a 20-month layoff.
CALGARY, Alberta - Taiaslew, the unanimous choice as Alberta's champion 2-year-old colt of 2002, faces five rival 3-year-olds Saturday in a six-furlong sprint as he preps for the May 10 President's Stakes.
The $21,900 conditioned allowance shares top billing on the eight-race card with a $20,300 optional claimer for fillies and mares, headed by Northern Neechitoo.